§ MR. DEVLIN (Belfast, N.)To ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether he could state the circumstances under which the Antrim County Council rescinded, in February, 1907, a resolution passed by that body in December, 1902, with reference to a new road from Glenarm to Feystown; and whether, seeing that this action of the council has resulted in loss to the promoters of the road and a continuance of inconvenience to a large section of the ratepayers, he will consider the advisability of ordering a Local Government Board inquiry into the matter.
(Answered by Mr. Birrell.) The reason assigned by the Antrim County Council for abandoning the proposal to make the new road referred to is that the cost of obtaining the necessary land and making the road would be quite out of proportion to the usefulness of the road. The land could only be obtained by the exercise of compulsory powers, and it is stated that the line of the road passes through a quarry. The Local Government Board would have no power to interfere in the matter unless upon appeal by the rural district council, and no such appeal has been made to them.