§ MR. TULLYI beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether the attention of the Congested Districts Board has been drawn to the letter published by Mr. George L. Tottenham, D.L., J.P., Glenade, County Leitrim, in the Irish Times and Daily Independent, of Tuesday last, in which he makes a number of charges against their administration of the funds under their control; that on the exposed portion of the Atlantic coast, where tree planting experiments have been generally failures, a sum of £4,023 has been spent on 290 acres of bog, at a cost of £14 per acre, the estimate being £4 10s. per acre; that £6,533 was spent on local inquiries and inspections, which Mr. Tottenham alleges could be done for £300 at the outside; that £400 was granted for a co-operative creamery outside the scheduled congested area; and whether he will order an inquiry into Mr. Tottenham's charges, and state at the same time the reason why the Congested Districts Board, while making these expenditures, neglected to extend their operations to the congested districts in Roscommon, a county specially entitled to the benefit of the Irish Reproductive Loan Fund, and to the congested districts of Leitrim, which county is specially entitled to the benefits of the Irish Reproductive Loan Fund and the Sea Coast Fisheries Fund?
MR. J. MORLEYThe letter referred to in my hon. Friend's question will be brought before the Congested Districts Board at their next meeting. Under 442 these circumstances, it is not considered desirable at present to offer any criticisms on some of the statements in the letter.