SIR FREDERICK DIXON-HART-LAND () Middlesex, UxbridgeTo ask the President of the Local Government Board whether he is aware that the sum of nearly £40,000 was raised and has been spent on drainage works in the parish of Ruislip (including Northwood) by the Uxbridge Rural District Council, under the sanction of the Local Government Board; whether he has received any official reports to the effect that the Uxbridge Rural District Council have paid the contractors in full before the dates named in the contracts, and that variations inconsistent with the nature of the approved scheme have been made without the consent of the Local Government Board; and whether he will now reconsider the necessity of holding a local inquiry upon the subject.
(Answered by Mr. Walter Long.) Loans amounting to £39,000 have been sanctioned by the Local Government Board for the purposes of sewerage and sewage disposal in the parish referred to. I have not received any official reports to the effect that the contractors were paid in full before the dates named in the contracts, but I understand that there have been departures from the approved scheme. I am in communication with the Rural District Council on the subject, but it does not at present appear to me to be necessary that there should be a further local inquiry in this case.