§ MR. J. WILLIAMS (Glamorganshire, W.)To ask the President of the Local Government Board whether, in view of the correspondence that has passed between his Department and a person named W. R. Morgan, residing at a house named Westfa, Mumbles, who claims, without prejudice, the sum of £5 for damages caused by the flooding of his house on the night on the 25th ultimo, and his reply thereto, he will state the grounds upon which he repudiates responsibility in the matter; whether he has drawn the attention of the local authority to the same; and further, what steps, if any, have been taken to avoid a repetition of such an incident.
(Answered by Mr. John Burns.) Mr. Morgan sent me a copy of some correspondence he had had with the Oyster-mouth District Council, from which it appeared that he had claimed compensation from them in consequence of his house having been flooded during a heavy storm on the night of 25th September last, owing, as he considered, to a certain drain course not having been kept clear. The district council repudiated liability, and thereupon Mr. Morgan wrote suggesting that he was entitled to make a claim for compensation against the Local Government Board. It is evident that the alleged failure of the district council to keep a drain course clear gave Mr. Morgan no right to claim compensation from the Local Government Board, and he has been informed 1219 that they could not accept any responsibility in the matter. It was needless for me to draw the attention of the district council to the subject, as they were already well aware of it.