LOCAL GOVERNMENT (IRELAND) PROVISIONAL ORDER (No. 1) BILL. (Hansard, 26 April 1900)

§ DR. AMBROSE (Mayo, W.)
I have to oppose this motion, and in doing so I think I shall be able to show why Bills passed in this House are so unpopular in Ireland. Parliament spent a good deal of the session of 1898 in passing the Local Government Act, which took out of the hands of old fossilised grand juries in Ireland the management of local affairs in counties, and placed it under the control of duly elected representatives of the people. But what has actually occurred? The management of these affairs has been handed over to the Local Government Board, which resides in some cupboard in Dublin Castle, a habitation only known possibly to the postmen of Dublin; and the district and county councils, after being allowed to go through an expensive election, have to sit round a table while the Local Government Board retains the actual power and fixes the salaries of the officials. In the case of 3 Westport, which is dealt with in this Provisional Order, the Local Government Board says, "We will deprive the town of Westport of the district council, and constitute it an urban sanitary authority, notwithstanding the fact that the officials of the district council have already been appointed at salaries which cannot be reduced by any means." No wonder, then, that the laws passed by this House are so unpopular in Ireland; for while you claim to transfer the management of local affairs to the people you actually place them under the control of a more conservative body than ever— a body nominated and not elected. And when this district council in County Mayo instructed their solicitor to appoint a Parliamentary agent to oppose this in Parliament, the Local Government Board wrote threatening to surcharge them with the costs of the opposition, on the ground that the district council could "not legally expend any portion of the district funds in opposing the confirmation by Parliament of the Provisional Order." I rather think that in this the Local Government Board of Ireland is itself acting illegally, for according to the Public Health Act 41 and 42 Vic. Chap. 52, such expenditure is authorised. As a fact the district council complied with the legal requirements which were necessary to place it in a position to oppose this Provisional Order. It petitioned the Local Government Board within the prescribed time, and I therefore say the Local Government Board acted illegally in threatening to surcharge the district council with the expenses incurred in opposing the confirmation of the Order. As I have said before, the officers of the district council had already been appointed and their salaries fixed. In fixing them the Local Government Board did not consult the district council as to the amounts which ought to be paid, although that body best knew what were the duties to be performed. If Westport is to be taken out of the area of the district council, the duties of the officials will be lessened, but their salaries cannot be reduced. New officials will have to be appointed for the freshly constituted urban sanitary authority, whose salaries will have to be paid by the township of Westport, and the existing salaries will have to continue to be paid by the district council. Could anything be 4 more unfair? On these grounds I ask the House to reject this Bill.

§ THE ATTORNEY GENERAL FOR IRELAND (Mr. ATKINSON, Londonderry, N.)
I did not know that the hon. Gentleman intended to oppose this Bill, but it occurred to me while he was speaking that he was delivering a speech intended for another Bill and another occasion. What he has said has scarcely anything whatever to do with the Bill now before the House. What are the facts of the case? Under Section 42 of the Local Government Act, 1898, which amended the seventh section of the Public Health Act, 1870, it is competent for any town commissioners to petition the Local Government Board of Ireland to be constituted an urban sanitary authority. Of the functions of the Local Government Board the hon. Member appears to be quite ignorant. They have not any habitation in Dublin Castle at all. Now the town commissioners of Westport did petition the Local Government Board to have their town constituted an urban sanitary authority. Westport has an area of 3,038 acres, a population of 4,070, and a valuation of £6,141, and the petitioners asked to have charge of their own roads, and for power to possess their own waterworks, etc.

§ Dn. AMBROSE
Was it a unanimous petition?

MR. ATKTNSON
I understand it was.

§ DR. AMBROSE
No: it was about half and half.

§ MR. ATKINSON
At any rate, the petition was presented, and the Local Government Board held the usual inquiry after due notice. No opposition whatever was offered, and the Board, as it was bound to do, made the Order constituting Westport a self-governing community; and why? Because under the existing condition of affairs the cleansing and lighting of the town 5 was most imperfect, the water supply was most shocking and scandalous, there being only a few private wells from which good water could be obtained, the housing of the artisan classes was bad, and there were no labourers' cottages in the town. The chairman of the town commissioners declared that this deplorable state of things could not be remedied unless the town had control over its own affairs, and on that statement the Order was made. The rural district council the hon. Member represents, which extends forty miles from the town, has certainly presented a petition to the Local Government Board to prevent this community of 4,000 persons governing themselves and asking that it should continue to be governed by councillors, some of whom live fifty miles away. He wishes, apparently, that the present disgraceful state of affairs should continue. The presentation of the petition has rendered it necessary that the Order should be confirmed by Parliament. The hon. Member has passed some absolutely undeserved and ill-informed criticism on the Local Government Board; but, after all, his only ground of opposition appears to be in connection with the salaries of the officials. If he had only read the section of the Act governing this matter he would have seen that all these matters have to be adjusted between the new urban authority and the district council, so that none of the evils which he apprehends may follow from the confirmation of this Order can arise. It seems strange to me that gentlemen who are supposed to favour popular rights should be found willing to oppose the grant to a community of 4,000 people, with an area of 3,000 acres, of self-governing powers to remedy a state of things which is scandalous and injurious as regards water supply, sanitation, and the housing of the poorer classes. It is amazing to me that the hon. Gentleman should oppose the confirmation of this Order.