§ MR. SHEEHAN (Cork, Mid)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is prepared to give consideration to representations and to cause inquiries to be made regarding the housing of the fishermen of the south and west coast of Ireland, and whether the character of the houses in which these men live has been brought under his notice; and, seeing that the applications of fishermen for labourers' cottages have been uniformly rejected 297 by the Local Government Board, even when evidence has been adduced that they have devoted a portion of the year to agricultural work, he will state what steps it is proposed to take, either by amendment of the present Acts or the introduction of fresh legislation, to secure better dwellings for fishermen and for rural tradesmen and factory hands at present outside the scope of every enactment for the better housing of the working classes.
§ MR. WYNDHAMUnder the existing Labourers Acts "fishermen "and" hand-loom weavers" who do agricultural work at any season of the year are included in the term "agricultural labourers," for whom cottages may be provided. It is not, I am informed, correct to say that applications of fishermen for cottages have been uniformly rejected by the Local Government Board. The question of the extension of the Housing of the Working Classes Act (which at present extends only to urban districts and towns under the jurisdiction of town commissioners) so as to include the cases of artisans and others living in towns and villages too small to support town commissioners is one that deserves, and is receiving, consideration. At present, however, I cannot make any more definite statement.