§ MR. FLAVIN (Kerry, N.)To ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that the Local Government Board have rejected the direct labour scheme recommended by the Kerry County Council; and whether, seeing that the scheme of the County Council only embraced two public roads in each Rural District Council as a test experiment in order to ascertain the cost of upkeep, that the labourers of the county asked for and are in favour of 309 the scheme, and that there are a number agricultural labourers in the county whose average weekly wage when employed does not exceed 9s. per week, he will recommend the Local Government Board to reconsider the County Council scheme with the object of allowing unemployed labour to be used, and the cost of direct labour to be ascertained by the Country Council.
(Answered by Mr. Wyndham.): The Rural District Councils' of Dingle and Tralee appealed against the direct labour scheme of the County Council, and the Local Government Board, after the local inquiry, allowed the appeal. There were two serious objections to the scheme, namely, the heavy additional cost which it would entail as compared with the existing system (being from 72 to 84 per cent. over the contract system) and the difficulty which, in the opinion of the county surveyor, would be experienced in obtaining labourers to carry out the scheme. The Board have informed the County Council that it is open to them to formulate another scheme.