§ MR. MARUM (Kilkenny, N.)asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland when Her Majesty's Government propose to introduce a measure embodying the recommendations of the Royal Commission on Public Works (Ireland), appointed October 1886, in reference to railway extension generally, and also for the consolidation of the earlier Tramway Acts and the Act of 1883, and the assimilation of their provisions to those in General Railway Acts, especially in relation to the "Leinster Coal Field" in the County of Kilkenny, referred to in the 58th paragraph of the Report of the Commissioners, and concerning which a deputation waited upon him last Session?
§ MR. A. J. BALFOURThe hon. Member is aware that, as indicated in the Queen's Speech, the Government hoped to ask the House to pass certain measures for developing the material resources of Ireland. It is not customary to give details of measures so foreshadowed until the measures themselves are brought before the House on a specific Motion, and I fear I must ask the hon. Member to be kind enough to excuse me if I do not depart from the usual practice in this respect.
§ MR. MARUMasked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether his attention has been directed to the First Report of the Royal Commission on Public Works (Ireland), in reference to arterial and river drainage; whether he is aware that there are 528 many waterlogged districts in Ireland needing such drainage operations, and amongst others the Carlingford, Johnstown, Cullohill, and Durrow Valley, in North Kilkenny, wherein the occupiers, being statutory termors, have at their own proper expenses fulfilled the necessary preliminaries and procured from the Local Government Board approval and sanction for the required expenditure of £32,000; that the present inartificial and unsatisfactory condition of the Drainage Acts relating to Ireland impede and deter parties interested from carrying out drainage operations; and, whether, in view of the foregoing, Her Majesty's Government are prepared forthwith to introduce a general consolidation measure embodying the recommendations of the Royal Commission, so as to constitute a general workable Drainage Code, without waiting for the passing of the projected local Drainage Bills, which may possibly be rejected from local causes or local inapplicability?
§ MR. A. J. BALFOURI am aware of the recommendations to which the hon. Member refers, and am fully alive to the benefits that might be anticipated from a consolidation measure; but important as this subject is, I am, as I have more than once stated in the House, of opinion that the Drainage and Railway Bills which I hope to introduce are of greater importance.
§ MR. CONYBEARE (Cornwall, Camborne)When does the right hon. Gentleman propose to introduce the Drainage Bills?
§ MR. A. J. BALFOURI cannot say now—it depends entirely on the state of public business.