§ MR. DALY (Monaghan, S.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that the Governors of the Cavan and Monaghan Lunatic Asylum made a demand last week on the County Council of Monaghan for £6,500 to carry out a sewerage scheme; and that this sum is being expended without letting or offering the work by contract; whether he can state who is superintending the carrying out of this work on the asylum premises; whether he is aware that sewerage schemes costing large sums of the ratepayers' money carried out during recent years have proved a failure in the asylum; and whether he will see that the money of the ratepayers is not allowed to be lost now, and whether a contract for this work could still be taken.
§ MR. G. W. BALFOURAs stated by me yesterday, the Local Government Board, on the application of the Asylum Committee, have sanctioned the issue of a loan to the amount mentioned for sewerage works at the asylum, the repayment of the loan to be spread over a period of thirty years. I am informed 661 that the works are being carried out by the employment of tradesmen and labourers under the superintendence of Mr. Peddie, a sanitary engineer of high repute, assisted by a civil engineer as clerk of works. The decision as to the manner in which such works are to be executed is vested solely in the Asylum Committee, and there is no obligation imposed upon them to let or offer the execution of such works by contract. No other sewerage scheme has been carried out at this asylum since it was built thirty-one years ago. It would be the duty of the Local Government auditor to inquire into any expenditure of an illegal or unnecessary character in connection with the asylum.