§ MR. JASPER TULLY (Leitrim, S.)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury, whether he can state if the attention of the Commissioners of Public Works in Ireland has been directed to the slow progress of the drainage works at Drumheriff, on the Shannon, and that employment has been refused by the engineers in charge to numbers of labourers from the surrounding districts; and, whether he will direct that during the present favourable state of the weather, and the low level of the river, steps will be taken to expedite the works, and thus give more employment to the labourers needing it in the adjoining districts?
§ MR. HANBURYOver 300 men are at present employed on these works, which have been pushed as much as it is possible to do. They were not put in hand in any way as relief of distress works, and the provision made in the Estimates was not based on any such idea. The proportion of the total sanction available for the current year's expenditure is not sufficient to justify the works being proceeded with on any larger scale than at present.