MR. FIELD (Dublin, St. Patrick)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury what was the amount of loans made under the provisions of the Act 46 and 47 Vic, c. 26, passed in 1883, by the Commissioners of Public Works in Ireland towards the erection of piers and harbours; how much of that money, with interest thereon, has been repaid; if any remaining unpaid, will he state the localities or persons in arrear of such repayments, and the amounts respectively; and how the money so repaid has since been applied by the Commissioners of Public Works; and if on piers will he state the piers on which it has been applied and the sums expended on each work?
§ MR. HANBURYThe Sea Fisheries (Ireland) Act, 1883, placed at the disposal of the Board of Works a sum of £250,000 out of the Irish Church Funds, to be applied to the construction of fishery piers and harbours by way either of free grants or loans, with the proviso that repayments in respect of loans should be added to the original fund and be similarly applied. The loan advances out of the £250,000 amounted to £27,264. The repayments of principal and interest in respect of those loans amount up to the present to £23,727. The amount still to be paid for principal and interest is £12,846. The only sum in arrear is £34 6s. 9d., in respect of Greystones Pier, County Wicklow. The sums repaid have not been specifically applied to the erection of particular piers, but a portion of the total has been placed to the account of the original fund, and, with the other money standing to that, account, has been applied to the purposes of the Act, in grants for piers and engineering expenses. There remains a sum of £13,569 in cash, arising from repaid loans still unapplied, and £2,000 of the original fund has never been drawn from the Land Commission, the trustees of the Church Fund.