§ MR. JASPER TULLY (Leitrim, S.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland—(1) whether he is aware that the town commissioners of Boyle, where there is no system of public lighting, have been refused a loan by the Local Government Board for the purpose of providing electric lighting from the water power available in the town, and that this refusal was owing to a technical difficulty raised by the Electric Lighting Act that they are not the urban sanitary authority; and, (2) whether he will be prepared to give facilities to a short non-contentious Bill to remedy this defect in the law, and to enable town commissioners, who are not the urban sanitary authorities, to borrow money for the purpose of electric lighting?
§ MR. GERALD BALFOURThe statements in the first paragraph are 968 correct. As regards the second paragraph the Government would not oppose in principle a Bill to remedy the defect in the law referred to in the Question.