§ MR. DALYI beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, will he state the grounds on which the Castleblaney Board of Guardians have been suspended and paid Guardians have been appointed; whether they will be paid out of the rates; whether he can state in how many unions in Ulster have the Guardians refused to erect labourers' cottages after being requested by the Local Government Board to do so; and, what steps he intends to take in the matter with regard to Guardians that have not complied with orders of Local Government Board in Ulster?
§ MR. GERALD BALFOURThe Local Government Inspector, in pursuance of Section 8 of the Labourers' Act 1891, has been empowered to perform all the duties of the Castleblaney Board of Guardians under the Labourers' Acts in consequence of their failure to make an Improvement Scheme as recommended by the Inspector after a Local Inquiry held by him in 1894. The functions of the Guardians have not been curtailed in any other respect, and paid officers have not been appointed for the Union. In three other unions in Ulster—namely, Cootehill, Strabane, and Stranorlar—the Guardians refused to erect cottages after having been requested to do so, and the Local Government Inspector has been empowered to carry out the Labourers' Acts in these places also.