HC Deb 03 August 1891 vol 356 cc1132-3
MR. KNOX

I beg io ask the Secretary to the Treasury whether his attention has been called to the Judgment of Mr. Justice Holmes, at the Londonderry Assizes, in the matter of the Lough Erne Drainage Works, in which the learned Judge is reported to have said— The Drainage Board was placed in a most difficult and peculiar, he might go so far as to say impossible, position. The Board was subject to actions from the occupiers of land above the sluice if the gates were not opened in proper time, and on the other hand they were subject to actions from the people below if the water was discharged without reasonable precaution. How such a project could have been brought out at the immense expense it had been was one of the mysteries which a person in his position was unable to understand; and whether the plans for the drainage of Lough Erne, which were inquired into and approved by the Board of Works in 1879–80, provided that the Drainage Board should be placed in such a position?

*MR. JACKSON

I do not find that the quotation given in inverted commas by the hon. Gentleman is quite accurate. I have not been able to obtain an authoritative report, but I have made this extract from the Freeman's Journal of the 25th of July— Mr. Justice Holmes to-day delivered an important Judgment in a number of cases brought against the Lough Erne Drainage and Navigation Works, by occupiers of land at Ballyshannon, for flooding, caused, as alleged, by the defective construction and negligent management of the works. His Lordship held that there was no negligence shown since the completion of the works, and for damages sustained during the construction he gave judgment for small sums. He found for the defendants in the cases for alleged damage since the completion of the works. I do not gather from this any suggestion of defective plans.

MR. KNOX

Has the right hon. Gentleman read a fuller report, which was given in the National Press?

*MR. JACKSON

No, Sir; I have not had the advantage of seeing that journal. I am only able to give the information at my disposal.

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