§ MR. FIELD (Dublin, St. Patrick)To ask the President of the Local Government Board whether he will consider the advisability of extending to ground landlords who dishouse workers and refuse to grant sites for workers' dwellings the arrangement compelling railway companies to provide dwellings for workers who are dishoused owing to improvements or extensions.
(Answered by Mr. Walter Long.) A railway company who acquire houses occupied by persons of the labouring class are only required to make provision of the kind referred to in the Question where the houses are acquired in the exercise of Parliamentary powers conferred on them. The requirement is regarded as part of the Parliamentary bargain under which the power to acquire the houses is given. The case of the ground landlord does not appear to be analogous, and I am not prepared to propose the alteration in the law suggested.