§ MR. O'SHAUGHNESSY (Limerick, W.)To ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that the Newcastle West District Council are promoting an improvement scheme under the Labourers Acts, and that only forty cottages can be built under it before the 1s. in the pound limit is expended, that thirty-two farmers whose names they are including therein have given consent to the district council to acquire the plots, and that the district councillors guarantee that eight more will give it; and whether, under these circumstances, he will say what is the quickest way to forward the scheme and the best way to reduce the expense of inquiries, and law and clerical business in connection with it, which in former schemes cost from £30 to £40 per cottage, or one-third of the amount paid for cottage and plot.
(Answered by Mr. Bryce.) The Local Government Board are aware that the Newcastle Rural District Council have under consideration a new improvement scheme under the Labourers Acts. The clerk of the council estimated that forty cottages with acre allotments, and forty additional half-acres for existing cottages could be provided within the rating limit. Consents appear to have been received from thirty-two occupiers in the case of the forty proposed cottages, and seventeen occupiers in the case of the forty additional half-acres, but unless the consent of the owners should also be obtained it will be necessary for the council to seek compulsory powers of acquiring the lands. If the consent of all parties can be obtained, the council can make what is known as a scheme by agreement, in which case the Board would be disposed to dispense with the usual advertisements, but the scheme must be inquired into, and a formal Provisional Order be made. By proceeding in this way the council would save the expense of advertising the scheme and of serving preliminary notices and copies of the Provisional Order on owners and occupiers; and, if all parties were agreed, the cost of the inquiry would also be largely reduced, as the 823 council would only have to prove the necessity for the additional accommodation, while the cost of arbitration proceedings would be saved altogether.