§ MR. SWIFT MACNEILL (Donegal, S.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland—(1) whether he is aware that the cutting of the hill near Mount Charles, County Donegal, for which he stated a presentment had been passed, is a cutting for the purpose of facilitating carriage from the pier and not from the freestone quarries near Mount Charles; (2) whether he has received a memorial adopted at a meeting held in Mount Charles on the 21st January last, and signed by the Roman Catholic, Episcopalian, and Methodist Clergymen, Poor Law Guardians, and Magistrates of the district, informing him of the severe distress prevalent in the district, and asking means to relieve it; and (3) whether, having regard to the prevailing distress, and the benefit likely to accrue to the quarrying industry, he will consider whether public works can be instituted for cutting the hill between the quarries and the pier and the railway station?
MR. JOHN MORLEYAs regards the first paragraph, the county surveyor informs me that the cutting of the hill for which a grant was made at Presentment Sessions, will facilitate carriage between the quarries and the pier, and that this hill is the steepest between the village and the pier. The memorial referred to in the second paragraph was received. I am informed that the Inspector is visiting the district to-day, and his report will be brought to my notice as soon as the Local Government Board receive it.