§ MR. TUITE (Westmeath, N.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland if he can state whether Boards of Town Commissioners, under the Towns Improvement (Ireland) Acts, have power to adopt the Housing of the Working Classes Act, 1890, in towns where the Labouring Classes and Lodging Houses Acts, 1851 to 1881, have been adopted? I beg also to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether Boards of Commissioners existing for the paving, lighting, and cleansing of towns in Ireland have power under Section 99 of the Housing of the Working Classes Act, 1890, to erect dwellings for the working classes in those towns where the Commissioners are not the Sanitary Authority under the Public Health (Ireland) Act?
§ THE CHIEF SECRETARY FOR IRELAND (Mr. JACKSON,) Leeds, N.The hon. Member will find his inquiries in both questions answered in Subsection 1 of Section 102 and Subsection 1 of Section 99 respectively of the Housing of the Working Classes Act, 1890, which in substance give an affirmative reply to the questions.
§ MR. TUITEIn that case I wish to ask how it is the Irish Boards of Commissioners have been prevented from taking advantage of the Act?
§ MR. JACKSONI have no knowledge that that is so.
§ MR. TUITEYesterday I asked the question, and I was informed that as they are not a Sanitary Authority they could not take advantage of it. But the Act distinctly gives them power to do so.
§ MR. JACKSONI did not give that answer.
§ MR. ARTHUR O'CONNORWill the right hon. Gentleman be good enough to communicate to the Financial Secretary to the Treasury the substance of his answer?
§ MR. JACKSONI do not think that is any part of my business.
§ MR. O'CONNORThe information does not seem to be possessed by the Secretary to the Treasury, nor by the Boards of Commissioners in Ireland.