§ SIR T. LEA (Londonderry, S.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that at the last meeting of the Londonderry Asylums Board, after the withdrawal of the chairman and other members, a majority passed a resolution in favour of building a new lunatic asylum at the cost of about £110,000; and that the grand jury has since then passed a resolution, by 19 to 4, asking that, pending the coming into office of the county council, the board of control be requested to restrain the governors of the lunatic asylum from taking any further action towards building the proposed asylum; whether the new county council will have to find the £110,000 to pay for this new building; and whether the asylums board, which is a moribund body, is able to incur such an expenditure so shortly before the transfer of its powers.
§ THE CHIEF SECRETARY TO THE LORD LIEUTENANT OF IRELAND (Mr. GERALD W. BALFOUR,) Leeds, CentralThe reply to the first paragraph is in the affirmative. No contract has been entered into for the building of the proposed new asylum, and having regard to the changes contemplated in the Local Government Bill the board of control do not propose to take action in this respect pending the election of the new bodies to be created under the Bill.