§ MR. TULLYI beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury whether he can state if the Board of Works are aware that 600 acres of low-lying lands surrounding Lough Key are annually flooded owing to the locks on the portion of the river leading to the Shannon at Knockvicar being maintained at a certain level for the purpose of boat traffic; whether he is aware that traffic by trading boats on this portion of the river has ceased for years past; and whether, as on other portions of the Shannon and its tributaries, measures have been taken in recent years to regulate the level of the water so as to prevent flooding of the low-lying lands, he is prepared to recommend that the Board of Works proceed to have the locks at Knockvicar lowered so as to put an end to the inundations complained of in the neighbourhood of Lough Key?
§ THE SECRETARY TO THE TREASURY (Sir J. T. HIBBERT,) OldhamI am informed that the statutable depth of water at Knockvicar, which is the outlet for Lough Key, must be maintained as forming portion of the Shannon Navigation, and the Board of Works have no record of flooding being caused by the lock in question. It is not a fact that the traffic through this branch of the Shannon Navigation has ceased for years past, though no doubt it is not important. The work of regulation in other parts of 1006 the Shannon has not extended to this portion of the navigation, nor is such in any way necessary.