§ Mr. SHEEHANasked the Chief Secretary whether a circular has been issued by the Local Government Board to district councils who have improvement schemes in hand informing them that they can make no further advances under the Labourers Act of 1906; will he state how much of the £4,250,000 provided by Section 16 of that Act has been expended since it Game into operation; what are the causes which have produced the present stoppage of funds; and, seeing that the sum provided for under the Act is far from exhausted, and that delay in the building of cottages and disappointment to the labouring population must ensue from the action of the Local Government Board, will he see that the financial provisions of the Act of 1906 are enforced, that the money therein guaranteed shall be immediately forthcoming, and that public bodies shall not be asked to float loans in the open market to the public loss and the injury of the interests of the labouring classes?
§ Mr. BIRRELLThe Circular referred to has been addressed by the Local Government Board to Rural District Councils who propose making further improvement schemes under the Labourers Acts, and intimates to them that having regard to the amount of loans already sanctioned and the sum estimated to be required for schemes already in hand it is impossible to guarantee that any portion of the fund of £4,250,000 provided by Section 16 of the Labourers Act of 1906 will be available for schemes which are only now being initiated. The total amount of loans sanctioned under the 1906 Act is £3,936,631, and the balance, namely, £313,369, is earmarked for improvement schemes already in progress. The hon. Member will therefore see that the Board's action involves no suspension of financial operations under the Act of 1906, and is merely intended to prevent disappointment to the labouring population through the formulation of new schemes which could not be financed out of the present fund.