§ MR. DONAL SULLIVAN (Westmeath, S.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, with regard to the fact that the Irish Local Government Board have appointed one of their Inspectors, Mr. Bourke, to hold a local inquiry under the Labourers (Ireland) Acts in Athlone, on the 15th instant, whether this is the first inquiry for the erection of labourers' cottages in Athlone Union held by Mr. Bourke; why was not Mr. Agnew, the Local Government Board Inspector of the district, as on former occasions, appointed to hold this inquiry on the 15th instant; and whether he is aware that, at those inquiries, the sanitary officers of the districts swore that many of the 147 existing cottages were unfit for habitation and dangerous to the public health.
§ MR. MADDENThe Local Government Board report that it is the case that Mr. Bourke has been instructed to hold the inquiry under the Labourers' Acts in Athlone Union on the 15th inst. Mr. Agnew did not on a former occasion hold a similar inquiry in this Union. There was only one such previous inquiry in the Union, and that was held by Mr. Bourke. On the last occasion evidence was given by the relieving officers as to the alleged unfitness of some of the existing labourers' dwellings for habitation.