§ CAPTAIN DONELAN (Cork, E.)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury whether any tender has yet been accepted for the construction of the new custom house at Queenstown?
§ MR. HANBURYOwing to the unsettled condition of the local labour market, no tender could be obtained last July from any local contractor, and only one was obtained from a distance, and that at about double the estimate. In September tenders were again invited, and after some negotiation the lowest tender, that of a local man, has now been sufficiently modified to justify its acceptance, and I have arranged with the Board of Works accordingly. Though some alteration has been made in the plans, it will entail a considerable excess over the original estimate.