§ MR. D. MACALEESE (Monaghan N.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland if he has seen the letter of a labourer, named 1116 M'Grane, addressed to the Local Government Board for Ireland, complaining that the writer is living in a house condemned by the sanitary authority as unfit for habitation, that the house has neither chimneys nor windows, and is in a falling condition; and if the Local Government Board for Ireland intends taking any step toward providing this man with a cottage under the Labourers' (Ireland) Act?
§ MR. GERALD BALFOURThe Local Government Board have received a letter of the nature indicated, and the Guardians of the Castleblaney Union, to whom the letter was forwarded, state that M'Grane cannot properly be described as a labourer within the meaning of the word as defined in the Labourers' Acts, but that they have called upon the owner of the house to put it into repair in pursuance of Section 110 of the Public Health Act.
§ MR. ARTHUR O'CONNOR (Donegal, E.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland how long it is since the powers of the Strabane Board of Guardians, under the Labourers' Acts, were suspended by the Local Government Board; what number of cottages have been built, and where, under the direction of the Local Government Board's Inspector entrusted with the work; and what steps the Chief Secretary proposes to take to expedite the provision of cottages?
§ MR. GERALD BALFOURThe order empowering the Local Government Board's Inspector to exercise the duties of the Sanitary Authority under the Labourers' Acts was issued on the 2nd of May, 1894. The Inspector prepared a scheme for the erection of seven cottages in one electoral division of the Union, and after compliance with the usual preliminaries and the holding of a local inquiry, the scheme was confirmed by a Provisional Order of the Board, dated the 19th January 1895, which became absolute on the 16th March. The cottages have not yet been built, but the scheme is at present going through the arbitration stage. In addition to carrying out this scheme, the Inspector has also been engaged considering applications from several labourers for cottages, and he has prepared a further scheme for the erection of 13 cottages in other electoral divisions of the Union. As the 1117 various requirements of the Labourers' Acts have to be complied with by an Inspector in promoting a scheme, as well as by a Board of Guardians, whatever delay has taken place in erecting cottages in this case was, I am informed, unavoidable.
§ MR. ARTHUR O'CONNORI beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, what is the exact position with reference to the provision of labourers' cottages, under the scheme sanctioned by the Local Government Board for the Union of Stranorlan, in county Donegal?
§ MR. GERALD BALFOURThe Provisional Order confirming the Scheme for the provision of cottages in this Union is now being printed and will, it is expected, be issued in the course of a week.
§ MR. MICHAEL AUSTIN (Limerick, W.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland what is the cause of the delay in the Local Government Board not expediting a Scheme of labourers' cottages approved, and all preliminaries complied with, by the Tipperary Board of Guardians?
§ MR. GERALD BALFOURThe last set of improvement schemes under the Labourers' Acts submitted to the Local Government Board by the Guardians of Tipperary Union was approved of by a Provisional Order dated the 1st of February last, which was subsequently confirmed by Order in Council dated the 17th June. The only function remaining to the Local Government Board in regard to the carrying out of the schemes, is the sanctioning of the loans required, and on the Provisional Order being confirmed, forms were sent to the Guardians on which application should be made for such sanction. The applications have not yet been received, although the Board wrote, reminding the Guardians, on the 25th ultimo.