§ MR. FIELDTo ask the President of the Board of Agriculture whether the clerical and other work appertaining to the ordnance survey in Ireland has been as far as possible transferred to England; and, if so, whether he will consider the advisability of having all this work done in Ireland under the charge of the Department of Agriculture.
(Answered by Mr. Ailwyn Fellowes.) The completion of some of the maps of Ireland has caused certain classes of work, particularly the engraving of hills and colour-printing, to fall too short to allow them to be carried out economically and efficiently in Ireland, and such work is now done at Southampton. But it would not be correct to say that the clerical and other work appertaining to the survey of Ireland is being, as far as possible, transferred to England, and there is no question of the adoption of such a course. The expenditure on survey work in Ireland has considerably increased in recent years, and now amounts to 42 per cent, of the whole. No change is contemplated in the existing arrangements for the conduct of the survey.