§ MR. T. M. HEALY (Louth, N.)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury I whether he has sanctioned the action of the Department of Woods and Forests in compelling the owner of the pier of Glenarm, County Antrim, to pay the Crown £1,200 (under threat of legal proceedings) in order to quiet his title, which had for many years remained unchallenged; and whether he is aware that if the Department pressed their claim the result would be to throw hundreds of workmen out of employment.
§ MR. HANBURYThe owner of this pier, etc., was the Crown. It was built under a Crown lease of the foreshore, etc., granted in 1864, which expired in November, 1898, at the same time as the lease of the neighbouring quarries. The Commissioners of Woods recently sold the pier to Lord Antrim, the owner of the adjoining quarries. There is no question of workmen being thrown out of employment by the action of the Crown. Indeed, the continued employment of the quarrymen chiefly depended upon the quarries and the pier being worked together.