§ MR. LIDDELL (Down, W.)To ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that under the first scheme under the Labourers Acts of the Banbridge (county Down) Rural District Council nine cottages were built at an average cost, including price of land, of £205 each, and that the lawyers' fees in connection with these nine cottages amounted to £150, or an average of £50 per cottage; and whether in the Labourers Bill which the Government have promised he will introduce amendments to simplify and cheapen the procedure, and by which the lawyers' charges may be reduced.
(Answered by Mr. Bryce.) The records of the Local Government Board show that the average cost of each labourer's cottage in the district referred to has been about £340, and that the engineering and legal expenditure in each case amounts to almost £100. This excessive expenditure has been the subject of remonstrance on the part of the Board. One of the chief objects of the Labourers Bill which the Government intend to introduce is to cheapen and simplify the procedure of the existing Labourers Acts.