§ MR. F. MANDEVILLE (Tipperary, S.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, can he state what is the cause of the delay of the Local Government Board in sending an arbitrator to value the plots of land and the proposed sites for labourers' cottages at Rhodus and Emly, in the Tipperary Poor Law Union; will he arrange to have those plots of land, &c., valued now, so as the labourers may get possession, fence in, and cultivate them early this spring; is he aware that for the work of fencing in the plots of land the labourers would get paid by the Poor Law Guardians, and that this employment in itself would be a boon to the labourers in the present hard and trying season; and, would the Local Government Board remove the cause of those complaints, and send an arbitrator 1270 immediately to value the plots of land for labourers in the parish of Emly, Tipperary Poor Law Union?
MR. J. MORLEYAn arbitrator cannot be sent down in such cases until the Provisional Order authorising the Guardians' Improvement Scheme has become absolute, or, if it be petitioned against, has been confirmed by the Privy Council. The Provisional Order in this instance was signed only on the 1st inst., and on the 4th copies were sent to the Guardians with a view to their being served upon the owners and occupiers of the lands proposed to be taken. The Local Government Board have not yet been informed by the Guardians whether this has been done, and the order has not so far, therefore, been published. As there is a right of appeal allowed to all parties interested for one month from the date of the publication of the order, it is evident that the appointment of an arbitrator, however desirable the object in view, cannot at present be made.