§ MR. MARUMI beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether his attention has been directed to the unsatisfactory condition of the General Drainage Code of Ireland; whether he is aware that in the Sessions of 1883, 1884, and 1885, Bills were introduced, with the approval of the Government, for the Improvement of Landed Property, and for the Drainage of Land in Ireland; whether his attention has been called to the statement contained in the Report in 1887 of the Royal Commission on Irish Public Works, that "confusion reigns in Ireland" in reference to river and arterial drainage, and to the valuable recommenditions of the Commissioners as to legislation; and whether, inasmuch as certain local Drainage Bills have been 748 brought in successively for the past two Sessions, but have been objected to for local reasons, or by local parties, the Government, in view of the foregoing, are prepared to bring in, early this Session, a general drainage measure, to consolidate and amend the existing Drainage Code, and based upon the lines of the Irish Light Railways Bill, or otherwise?
§ MR. A. J. BALFOURThe hon. Member rightly points out that the protracted opposition which the Government proposals for arterial drainage have met with in past Sessions has prevented them from becoming operative. I fear that if the still larger proposals of the hon. Member were entertained even greater opposition might be anticipated.