HC Deb 23 March 1904 vol 132 cc498-9
MR. WOOD

I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland if his attention has been drawn to the action of the Marquess of Hertford in evicting the caretaker and gravedigger of the Blaris Burial Ground from the lodge erected by public subscription some fifty years ago, and since then occupied by the gravedigger at a nominal rent of one shilling per year; and, if so, will he explain why the Local Government Board object to the rural district council of Hillsborough acquiring this property again by purchase for the sum of £55, it having been † See (4) Debates, cxix., 1232. proposed by the council that the garden attached to the lodge should be added to the burial ground and utilised for burial purposes.

MR. WYNDHAM

The district; council has power to negotiate for the purchase of the land attached to the cottage, with a view to the enlargement of the existing burial ground, without the sanction of the Local Government Board. The Board merely pointed out to the council that there is no statutory authority for the acquisition of a cottage for the purpose of providing a residence for a caretaker of the burial ground.