§ MR. SEXTONOn behalf of the hon. Member for East Limerick, I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland is he aware that a Court of Inquiry was held in the Boardroom of the Kilmallock Workhouse about 12 months since into the scheme promoted by the Guardians for the erection of labourers' cottages, and that an Inspector from the Local Government Board inspected and approved of several sites for cottages last April; and has action been since taken by the Local Government Board to hasten the erection of those cottages; if not, will they be directed to proceed at once, so that the labourers may be enabled to fence in their plots in time to till them in the coming spring?
MR. J. MORLEYThe facts, I am informed, arc correctly stated in the question, though the hon. Gentleman appears not to be aware that the Provisional Order of the Local Government Board, in respect of the schemes, was issued on the 26th October, authorising the Guardians to provide 206 cottages in addition to the 460 already erected. The delay between the receipt of the Inspector's Report in April and the issue of the Order was, I believe, unavoidable, the scheme having been an exceptionally heavy one, and the several matters not being formally adjusted until the 23rd of October.