§ 71. Mr. GINNELLasked the Chief Secretary for Ireland if he will state the total amount of the loans under the Labourers (Ireland) Acts now outstanding, the total interest and sinking fund, respectively, being paid at the present time by rural district councils on that sum, and the average annual local expenditure on repair, equipment, and upkeep of the labourers' cottages and administration of the Acts in the last five years, so far as known in the offices of the Irish Local Government Board?
§ Mr. T. W. RUSSELLThere is no complete information available as regards the loans outstanding, and it could only be obtained, if at all, by communicating with every clerk of a rural district council in Ireland. The average annual cost of repairs to labourers' cottages for the five years ending 31st March, 1912, is £14,609, while the average annual cost of insurance, rent collection, and legal proceedings for the same period is about £8,485. There are further expenses in connection with the administration of the Labourers Acts, such as salaries and other charges, which would be impossible to estimate, as that work forms only a part of the duties of the rural district councils.