§ MR. SLOANTo ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether the attention of the Local Government Board has been called to the state of the main sewer in High Street, Draperstown, county Derry; whether he is aware that this sewer has been blocked for a number of years, that the sewage of the houses adjoining can find no outlets, and as a consequence the public health is seriously menaced; if he is aware that the local board of guardians last September tore up the road to ascertain what was wrong, but left it with five or six feet deep of sewage, rising near the surface, and protected round with wooden bars; and if, in the interests of the public health, he will cause inquiries to be made into the matter.
(Answered by Mr. Birrell.) The Local Government Board have ascertained from the Magherafelt Rural District Council that an obstruction exists in the main sewer at the back of the houses in New Row, Draperstown. A question has arisen as to whether the work of removing the obstruction should be carried out by the Council or the Drapers' Company, and this question was considered at a conference between a committee of the council and a committee of the Drapers' Company on the 6th instant. The result of the conference was to be considered at a meeting of the rural district council to-day.