§ MR. GLENDINNING (Antrim, N.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland if he has had a resolution directed to him by the Ballymoney Rural District Council concerning a labourer's cottage in Carnfinton, in the Ballymoney rural district; and, seeing that the tenant is not owner and occupier and that the Local Government Board and the landlord have blocked the building of the cottage, when the tenant and the rural council are anxious to build, whether he will grant an inquiry into the facts.
§ MR. MOOREHave this council shown their enthusiasm for the Labourers Acts by adjourning for twelve months the offer to give immediate possession of an estate selected for labourers' cottages?
§ MR. BIRRELLI beg to refer the hon. Member to the answer which I gave to his previous Question of 24th April, † By the provisional order issued by the Local Government Board in this case the rural district council were authorised to acquire the plot by agreement, it having been stated in evidence given on behalf of the council that the tenant of the plot was also the owner of it. It has since been ascertained that this evidence was incorrect, and it is entirely due to that fact that the council's present difficulty has arisen. The Local Government Board are placing no obstacle in the
† See (4) Debates, clxxiii., 59–60.976 way of the council, but are merely awaiting the arrangement by the council of terms of purchase. There is no dispute as to the facts of the case and an inquiry is therefore unnecessary.
CAPTAIN CRAIGIs it not the fact that the rural council in question selects sites which are calculated to give rise to opposition?