§ MR. J. L. CAREW (Dublin, College Green)I beg to ask the First Lord of the Treasury, whether he has received from the Council of the Chamber of Commerce in Dublin a very influentially signed memorial by the merchants and traders of the city protesting against the 830 proposal of the Board of Works to remove the Customs Offices from the Long Room in the Custom House to less convenient premises; and, whether he will instruct the Treasury Department to refuse to sanction any expenditure by the Board of Works in carrying out their scheme till the fullest consideration is given to the views of the parties who will be affected by the change?
§ MR. HANBURYThe Memorial has been received and referred to the Board of Works, who state that the Board of Inland Revenue, the Local Government Board, and the Board of Works, especially the first, all require additional accommodation. It is impossible to place additional buildings upon the site of the Custom House, and it has therefore become necessary to utilise any rooms not fully occupied. The Long Room is only occupied by some 14 clerks, and only half of them need necessarily to be placed there. The ground floor and the first floor on the quay side of the Customs part of the buildings are used solely by the Customs office keeper and watchmen. The Long Room therefore (it is proposed) and the offices immediately adjoining it, will be given up, and accommodation be provided in the parts now used as residences. The plans have been approved by the Board of Customs. Their collector was willing, more than two years ago, to give up half the Long Room for use by other departments, but the structure of the room is such as to make a division of it difficult, while it is admirably adapted for the Legacy and Succession Duty branch of the Inland Revenue, to which it is proposed to allot it. Every attention will be given to representations on the subject from persons interested.