§ MR. WEBB (Waterford, W.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland if he is aware that, in the rural sanitary district of Kilmacthomas, County Waterford, 183 labourers' cottages have been erected, whilst in the contiguous larger and more highly valued district of Dungarvan but 47 have been erected; and could he state what was the nature of the Report upon which Mr. Staunton, the Local Government Board Inspector, lately allowed but 26 out of a scheme for 55 in the Dungarvan district, seeing that many of the cottages at present occupied by labourers therein are said to be in an insanitary condition?
§ THE CHANCELLOR OF THE DUCHY OF LANCASTER (Mr. J. BRYCE, Aberdeen, S.) (for Mr. J. MORLEY)According to the latest Returns furnished to the Local Government Board, the number of cottages actually built in the Dungarvan Union is 46, and in that of Kilmacthomas 182. The Board's Inspector held an inquiry in July last regarding a proposal to provide 55 additional cottages in the Dungarvan Union, but of these he could only recommend 26. The Inspector reported that the manner in which the sites were selected in many cases did not appear to have been judicious; that in four instances the labourers themselves objected to the sites chosen, and declined to go there; that cottages were also proposed for evicted tenants on their late farms now occupied by others; that in the town of Dungarvan there were several houses vacant of the type usually occupied by labourers; and that it appeared that the 26 additional cottages recommended by him ought to provide fairly for all genuine wants. The Inspector's Report was communicated to the Guardians, who have so far made no observations in the matter.