§ MR. J. P. FARRELLI beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (1) whether he has received a copy of a rider attached to the verdict of a coroner's jury in the case, of an inquest on the remains of Michael M'Nally, who was found drowned in the canal harbour at Longford on the 23rd April, in which they state their belief that this man met his death principally owing to the unprotected state of the canal harbour there; and (2) whether, seeing that this is the sixth person drowned in this harbour inside five years, he will consider the Canal and Navigable Rivers (Ireland) Bill with a view to assisting the passage into law of some measure to compel canal companies to properly enclose, for the protection of the public, such harbours.
§ MR. GERALD BALFOURThe reply to the first paragraph is in the affirmative. The finding of the coroner's jury has been communicated to the Midland Great Western Railway Company, who have promised to give the matter their consideration. Such a measure as that referred to in the second paragraph, if passed at all, should, in my judgment, apply to the whole of the United Kingdom.