§ MR. M'DERMOTT (Kilkenny, N.)I bog to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware of the great dissatisfaction at Castlecomer, County Kilkenny, owing to the large number of men who are now only employed on short time at the colliery there; and considering that this is the principal colliery in Ireland, and that the short time employment is due to the want of proper means of transit, and the consequent accumulation of coal on the banks, whether he will make inquiry with the view of placing before the Treasury the urgent necessity of connecting Castlecomer by railway with the main line to Dublin?
§ THE CHIEF SECRETARY FOR IRELAND (Mr. J. MORLEY, Newcastle-upon-Tyne)So far as I have been able to ascertain, there is no dissatisfaction among the colliers employed at these coal pits. Some of the men were not working full time at one pit owing to a temporary disablement of the machinery; but at all the other pits the men, I understand, are working full time. The accumulation of coal on the banks is due, no doubt, mainly to the want of proper means of conveyance, and some years ago a scheme was proposed for the construction of a railway as suggested in the question. This scheme came before the Committee of the Privy Council in January, 1885, and it was decided that the evidence did not warrant a recommendation of the scheme, inasmuch as, though the railway might be useful to the collieries, it was really a matter for private enterprise, and its general importance was not such as to warrant the taxing of a whole barony.