§ MR. JAMES O'CONNOR () Wicklow, W.I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that the Baltinglass Rural District Council made an improvement scheme for thirty-five labourers' cottages, of which only ten were passed by the inspector, Mr. Wilson Lynch; and whether, the inquiry having been held on the day of the fairs at Baltinglass and Castledermot, when the local councillors could not attend, he will accede to the request of the Baltinglass District Council to order a supplemental inquiry into the proposed improvement scheme.
§ MR. ATKINSONThe answer to the first paragraph is in the affirmative. The Local Government Board are unable to say whether the local councillors were engaged at the fairs mentioned on the day of inquiry, but their presence at the inquiry was not absolutely essential, as the evidence of the labourers, the sanitary 1224 officers, or the relieving officers, is usually quite sufficient to prove the necessity for the erection of cottages, if such necessity really exists. Public notice of the time and place of the inquiry was duly given, and the Board cannot now accept further evidence upon this scheme. If the council consider that a case can still be made for any of the cottages rejected by the inspector, they must include them in their next scheme.