HC Deb 24 May 1898 vol 58 cc611-3

"Page 7, after clause 15, insert the following clause—

  1. "(1) The council of any county may, if they think fit, agree with the Congested Districts Board for Ireland to take over from that board any marine work in the county which has been constructed or acquired by 612 such board, and upon any such agreement the work shall become the public property of the county, subject nevertheless to the payment of compensation to any person other than the Congested Districts Board in like manner as if the same had been taken by the county council under the authority of a provisional order duly confirmed in pursuance of this Act.
  2. "(2) Where any marine work becomes vested in a county council under this section, or is or becomes public property under section sixty-eight of the Grand Juries Act, 1836, the provisions of the Fisheries (Ireland) Act, 1846, and the Grand Jury (Ireland) Act, 1853, relative to maintenance and repair, and as to tolls and rates, and as to by-laws, rates, orders, and regulations and otherwise, shall apply to such work as if it had been constructed by the Board of Works under the said Act of 1846, and become the public property of the county under the said Act of 1853.
  3. "(3) The provisions of the said Acts and of this section respecting maintenance and repair shall extend to reconstruction.
  4. "(4) For the purposes of this section, 'marine work' means any harbour, dock, pier, quay, wharf, beacon, light, or other similar work, and includes the approaches to any marine work as above defined, and all land and property used in connection therewith."—(Mr. Gerald Balfour.)

Question proposed— That the clause be read a second time.

MR. M. HEALY

said he could not understand why the Board of Works should have power given them to fix tolls and make by-laws. He suggested that not only in the ease of these works, but of all works Landed over to the grand juries, the county council should Lave the powers of making by-laws. That was expressly recommended by the Cork grand jury, and he hoped that the Government would consider the matter.

MR. GERALD BALFOUR

said he thought it was desirable to guard against the exaction of preferential rates.

MR. M. HEALY

said he thought the local body would naturally take more interest in a public work if they had really some power of management over it, together with the obligation of spending money upon it.

MR. T. M. HEALY

said he hoped that no county would put the clause in operation. When a pier had to be built the usual practice at present was for the Congested Districts Board to send a person down to the locality. One section of the community urged that the pier should be built at one spot, and another section was equally insistent on having the pier at a different spot. The result generally was that, in order to please both parties, the pier was built midway between the two rival spots selected, and at a point where no boat could enter.

MR. PLUNKETT

said he did not think the aspersions which had been made upon the Congested Districts Board were justified.

Clause read a second time.

MR. VESEY KNOX

said the word "construction" seemed to him to be an unfortunate word. In almost, all cases where a pier was blown down it was not owing to the sea, but the way in which the pier had been built. As he understood the clause, the county council would be in a difficulty—they would be forced either to reconstruct the pier according to the old plans, or to leave it alone, for they could not go upon a more modern plan. He moved an Amendment to provide that the reconstruction of marine works should be "according to the original or any new plan."

MR. FIELD

said that in the case of the harbours along the south coast of Ireland the Board of Works had managed to do the wrong thing. He held that the newly-created local authorities ought to do what, was best for their localities, and not accept the schemes of engineers sent down to force their plans against the opinions of those who knew better.

MR. GERALD BALFOUR

said he would be prepared to accept the words subject to consideration.

Amendment, agreed to and inserted.

Clause as amended added to the Bill.

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