§ MR. BOLANDI beg to ask the President of the Board of Trade whether he is aware that three road contractors, namely Maurice Coffey, Timothy Currane, and John Shea, tendered for road contracts in the Waterville district at a low figure, being under the impression that the grovel on the foreshore outside Waterville was available; whether he can state why these contractors are now compelled to draw stones and gravel from the neighbourhood of Ballinskelligs, which is a considerable distance away, whereby the expense is enhanced and the road contracting done at a loss; and whether he will have inquiry made into the matter with a view to having an equitable settlement.
§ THE PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY TO THE BOARD OF TRADE (Sir H. KEARLEY,) DevonportI have boon informed by the persons named in the Question that they contracted for the repair of roads in the belief that they were at liberty to remove materials from the foreshore for that purpose. It has since been explained to them that the foreshore in question being prima facie the property of the Crown no materials can be removed therefrom except with the permission of the Board of Trade, and as the Board received a complaint, which they satisfied themselves by local inquiries was well founded, that the removal of materials from the foreshore of Ballinskelligs Bay contributed to the erosion of the adjacent land, they felt it necessary to prohibit such removal in future. I do not think that further inquiry will be likely to modify this decision.