§ DR. FOX (King's Co., Tullamore)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury, with respect to the scheme of drainage by lowering the bed of the Little Brosna River, adopted by the Board of Works, Ireland, whether the Board subsequently agreed to give power to a Railway Company to alter the course of the river, and to build a bridge across it, with the result that the bed of the river was raised two and a half feet, and the lands above the bridge were flooded; and whether the Board are now pressing the occupiers of the flooded lands for payment of charges for the drainage which was thus neutralised with the consent of the Board?
§ MR. JACKSONI am informed that the Little Brosna River was deepened under the Drainage Act in 1852–3. In 1856 the Board of Works furnished to the Great Southern and Western Railway Company the dimensions as to breadth, depth, and height of all bridges on their Ballytrophy and Parsonstown branch, which was planned to cross the Brosna. In this schedule the depth for the bridge at Bunowan was fixed at the full depth of 8½ feet below the level of the land. No complaint was made either as to the depth at the bridge or in the river diversion made by the company near it for 28 years, and no evidence has been produced to the Board of Works that the company did not carry out its obligations. The Board of Works are not pressing the occupiers for any payment, no payment being due to the Board.