MR. PATRICK O'BRIENI beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that a labourer named Thomas May has complained that a labourer's cottage built for him at Lacken, in the Thomastown (county Kilkenny) Union, is provided with a piece of land as garden which is barren; that the engineer of the Local Government Board reported that its reclamation would cost about £8; that the tenant Thomas May is still paying a rent of 1s. per week for this barren land: and that nothing has been done by the Board either to reclaim it or provide him with a piece of arable land instead upon which to grow provision for his family; and, whether he will see that this man is provided with a proper garden and not charged rent until he is so provided.
§ *MR. GERALD BALFOURThe question of reclaiming portion of the land attached to this cottage was reported on by the engineer to the Guardians, not by the Local Government Board's engineer. The rent of 1s. a week includes the cottage as well as the land, and the tenant must have been aware of the condition of the latter when he signed his agreement with the Guardians. The question of improving the land is one for the consideration of the local authority.