§ MR. DONAL SULLIVAN (Westmeath, S.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that an inquiry was held in the Athlone Workhouse on the 9th of last March, in connection with the erection of labourers' cottages; that since then all the necessary forms required by the Act for the building of those dwellings have been completed; what is the cause of the delay in their erection; whether the Local Government Board would put pressure on the Guardians to compel them to give immediately to the labourers the small plot of ground attached to each cottage, so as to enable them at once to till their ground and sow their little crop; and whether he is aware that, up to the present, not a single labourer's cottage has been erected in the Athlone Union?
§ MR. A. J. BALFOURI am informed that it is the case that the Guardians of Athlone Union have presented a Petition for the confirmation of an improvement scheme under the Labourers' Acts. The matter is in the hands of the Local Government Inspector for report. Action on the part of the Guardians must await that Report. I believe that up to the present time no cottages have been erected under the Acts in the Union.