§ Within two months from the passing of this Act a certificate shall be obtained from the Local Government Board for Ireland that the works intended to be hereby legalised have been completed, and that the sewers and works of the Board are effectual for the purposes named in Section 45 of the Act of 1893, and such certificate shall be conclusive evidence of the facts in all Courts and proceedings and for all purposes except as against the Commissioners of the Kingstown Harbour.
§
And which Amendment was, after the word "Harbour," to insert the words:—
Provided, however, that unless and until such certificate shall have been obtained, no portion of the money borrowed under the Act of 1893, or to be borrowed under this Act, shall be applicable to the payment of the costs of this Act, nor shall the same be payable out of,
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or be charged upon, the rates of the townships of Blackrock and Kingstown, or of either of them."—(Mr. James O'Connor.)
§ Question again proposed, "That those words be there inserted."
§ MR. JAMES O'CONNOR (Wicklow, W.)asked leave to withdraw his Amendment for the purpose of moving it in an altered form.
§ Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.
§
MR. JAMES O'CONNOR moved, after the word "Harbour," to insert the words:—
Provided, however, that unless and until such certificate shall have been obtained, no portion of the money borrowed under the Act of 1893, or to be borrowed under this Act, shall be applicable to the payment of any more than half the costs of this Act, nor shall the same be payable out of, or be charged upon, the rates of the townships of Blackrock and Kingstown, or of either of them.
The object of the Amendment, he said, was that instead of retaining the whole of the costs in the hands of the Commissioners, half the costs only should be retained and the other half paid to the Parliamentary Agents for the Bill. He had expected that some offer of compromise would have come from the promoters, but they had not thought it desirable to meet him half way, and he therefore considered that he was bound to proceed with his Amendment. Even if it was fair to consider the Parliamentary Agents, it was equally fair to consider the pockets of the ratepayers who had to pay for this Bill. They had already been severely punished on account of the mistakes of the Commissioners in promoting this and other Bills. In 1892 the Commissioners brought in a Bill which, however, did not comply with the Standing Orders and was lost. The ratepayers had to pay £1,000 for that mistake. In 1893 a Bill was promoted which cost the ratepayers £10,000. What had happened? The Main Drainage Board violated that Act of Parliament. They made such deviations in the lines laid down, that they were obliged to come to Parliament for a legalising Bill. That was the Bill now before the House. In the Act of 1893 the Main Drainage Board were instructed
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to get a certificate from the engineer that the works were properly carried out. The Board failed to get such a certificate. On that account it was found necessary to put a clause in the present Bill compelling the Board within two months of the passing of the Measure to get a certificate from an engineer nominated by the Local Government Board to the effect that the works had been properly carried out. His point was that if the Board failed to comply with that provision there was nothing in the Bill to penalise them, and for that reason there ought to be some such clause as he proposed, in order that the ratepayers would not be put to the expense of coming to the House for another legalising Act.
§ MR. FLYNNsaid, when he moved the Adjournment of the Debate the other day, it was in the hope that the promoters would have met his hon. Friend; but they had not approached him in any way. The Drainage Board had acted very strangely in the past, and had squandered the ratepayers' money in the most extravagant manner. Clause 4 of this Bill provided that works already sanctioned should be executed to the satisfaction of an engineer. But it provided no guarantee that that should be done. He would second the Amendment, and hoped the Chairman of Committees would throw out some suggestion, so that the ratepayers would be protected.
*THE CHAIRMAN OF COMMITTEES (Mr. J. W. LOWTHER,) Cumberland, Penrithsaid the only suggestion he could make was that the Bill should go through in the form in which it came to the House from the Committee. He had accepted already the suggestion made by the hon. Member for North Dublin, when he inserted Clause 4 in the Bill. He thought that was fair to the promoters and to the public. He must say he thought the clause proposed by the hon. Member for West Wicklow was not fair. Under the clause which the hon. Member proposed last Friday, the suggestion was that the costs of the Act should fall upon the Parliamentary Agents. That was the long and short of it. Supposing the Blackrock and Kingstown Commissioners did not do their duty, the Parliamentary Agents would have to pay all the costs of 781 obtaining this Act. The hon. Member did not go so far as that to-day. All he said was that the Parliamentary Agents ought to pay half the costs. He listened carefully to what he said, and he failed to ascertain any reason whatever why these costs should be placed as a burden on the Parliamentary Agents. They had undertaken to carry this Bill through. They had been put, naturally, to certain costs out of pocket, besides the remuneration to which they were entitled.
§ MR. FLYNNsaid the proposition was, not that the Parliamentary Agents should pay all the costs, but that half the costs should be retained until the certificate had been obtained.
*THE CHAIRMAN OF COMMITTEESsaid surely that was the same thing. Retained by whom? By the Drainage Commissioners. Retained from whom? From the Parliamentary Agents. He saw no difference between the hon. Member for North Cork and himself. It seemed to him a very unfair thing to the Parliamentary Agents, who had undertaken to carry this Bill through. He considered the whole position very carefully when he introduced Clause 4 into the Bill, and that seemed to him to be fair. He endeavoured to see whether it was possible to get some sanction, some guarantee, that the certificate would be obtained, and he failed to find any way to do it. There was, he might point out, every inducement to the Commissioners to get this certificate. Until they got it they were liable to an action from any person who considered their works a nuisance. As soon as they got the certificate they would be able to say to any person who attempted to bring an action, "Under this Act of 1896 this certificate, obtained from the engineer to the Local Government Board, is a bar to your action." He hoped the hon. Member would not press the Amendment.
§ MR. J. O'CONNORsaid that after the observations of the Chairman of Committees, he would ask leave to withdraw the Amendment.
§ Amendment, by leave, withdrawn.
§ Bill to be read the Third time.