§ MR. ENGLEDOWI beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, with reference to the letter of the Local Government Board, dated the 20th March 1896, on the subject of Loans Labourers Acts, in which it is stated for the information of the several sanitary authorities that the Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury have decided that loans for the purposes of the Labourers' Acts shall, in future, be granted on the same terms as those pre-scribed for loans under the Housing of the Working Classes Act 1890; and, whether that circular letter authorises the several sanitary authorities throughout Ireland borrowing money at this new and reduced scale of interest to pay off loans contracted for the same purpose under the old and higher scale, and thus very materially relieve the taxpayers of Ireland; and, if not, whether he would consider the advisability of taking steps to facilitate such an arrangements?
§ MR. GERALD BALFOURThe Circular in question notifies to Rural Sanitary Authorities the terms on which future loans are granted for the purposes of the Labourers' Acts, but it does not authorise the borrowing of money at the reduced rate to pay off loans previously obtained.