§ MR. MAURICE HEALYI beg to ask the Attorney General for Ireland, whether, in view of the large cost of acquiring lands compulsorily in Ireland for public purposes under the Labourers' Acts, the Drainage Acts, the School Sites Act, the Public Health Act, and other Acts of this kind, where only small plots of land are required, he will consider the advisability of introducing a Bill to modify, for the 933 purposes mentioned, the existing procedure under the Lands Clauses Acts, which were originally intended to apply where lands were being taken for railways or otherwise on an extensive scale; and, whether he will adopt for the purposes mentioned, either the modifications of the Lands Clauses Acts contained in the Schedule to the Housing of the Working Classes Act, 1890, or some other method of simplifying and cheapening the procedure?
§ THE ATTORNEY GENERAL FOR IRELAND (Mr. JOHN ATKINSON,) Londonderry, N.I agree with the hon. Member that it is desirable, if possible, to lessen the expense of taking small plots of land for the purpose mentioned in the question, and I shall consult with the Irish Local Government Board as to whether any steps could be taken to attain that object. I cannot however, at present, promise to introduce a Bill to amend the law in the manner suggested.