§ MR. J. DEVLIN.To ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether his attention has been called to the statements made at the Local Government Board inquiry held at the Belfast Workhouse on the 15th instant, to consider the scheme for the erection of labourers' cottages in the Castlereagh rural district; whether there are any representatives of the labourers on the district council; whether Captain Maude, the agent for the Marquess of Downshire, was included in the sites committee by resolution of the council; whether it was proposed that only half an acre of land be given to each applicant, 1466 although the Act of Parliament provides that every applicant is entitled to an acre; whether representations were made by the labourers of the need for cottages in 1904, and the council passed a resolution that no cottages were needed; whether Colonel M'Cance, J.P., the chairman of the council, admitted that the men were of decent character, but said that half an acre each was sufficient for them; and whether he will advise the Local Government Board to take special care that these labourers are not deprived of their legal rights.
(Answered by Mr. Birrell.) The scheme of the rural district council proposed to provide twenty-two labourers' cottages with garden allotments of a quarter of an acre in each case. The Local Government Board are not aware whether there are any representatives of the labourers on the district council, but they are aware that Captain Maude was a member of the Sites Committee. The Labourers Acts do not make it mandatory on the local authority to provide the maximum allotment of a statute acre. It is the fact that representations for cottages were made by the labourers in 1904, and that the council passed a resolution to the effect stated. The Local Government Board's inspector would not be warranted in refusing to confirm a scheme because the allotment attached to each cottage is less than an acre. The Local Government Board understand that the sites are more valuable than ordinary agricultural holdings, and that some of them are close to the city boundary on land which is of a comparatively high price.