§ MR. JOHN ROCHE (Galway, E.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether he has received a copy of resolution from the Ballinasloe Board of Guardians asking for separate county and district councils in the existing riding of the county of Galway; and whether, seeing that the area of the county contains 507,774 acres and the population 41,524 inhabitants in excess of that of Tipperary, he will accede to the request contained in the resolution?
§ MR. GERALD BALFOURI have received a copy of the resolution referred to. The facts are correctly stated in the second paragraph. The valuation of the county of Tipperary is £682,681, while that of the county of Galway (including the county of the town) is £477,848. A large portion of the county of Galway is scheduled as congested, and I doubt whether it would be wise to divide the county into two ridings, and to separate the eastern and richer portion from the western and poorer part. The Galway grand jury have not, I believe, experienced any difficulty in discharging the fiscal business of the entire county, and I see no reason why a county council for the entire county should have any insuperable difficulties to contend with either.