§ MR. THOMAS F. SMYTHTo ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, if he has received from the County Leitrim County Council a copy of a resolution passed by them at their meeting, held on 12th February, protesting against the payment of £42 19s. 5d. in connection with the Ballinamore and Ballyconnell navigation district; and, as there is no navigation whatever in this district, if steps will be taken to prevent the trustees of this so-called navigation district from levying in future this rate on an already over-taxed district, particularly when no benefit accrues to the people from it.
(Answered by Mr. Cherry.) The navigation of the Ballinamore and Ballyconnell Canal was abandoned in 1865 owing to the absence of trade. The canal is not now maintained for navigation, but there is some necessary expenditure for other purposes, such as the protection of property liable to be injured by neglect of the navigation works. This expenditure must be met by the counties of Leitrim, Cavan, Roscommon, and Fermanagh in the proportions assigned by the award made on the completion of the navigation scheme. The case of the canal and the question of its improvement 1324 for drainage or navigation purposes have been brought before the Royal Commission on Canals and Waterways, and any recommendation which the Commission may make regarding it will, of course, receive full consideration.