THE EARL OF BELMORE, in rising to ask "Whether anything can be done to hasten the progress of the Ordnance Survey in Ireland on the 25-inch scale," said he used to put the Question to Lord Cadogan ten or fifteen years ago, but recently, when he had occasion to apply to the head of the Ordnance Survey in Ireland for a particular map, he was told it would not be ready for seven or eight years more, or about twenty years from the time he first took an interest in the matter, when the survey had already been begun. Next year it was understood a Bill would be introduced by which land purchase in Ireland would be largely accelerated. The first essential of land purchase was a correct map, so that he thought both landlords and tenants had a strong case in asking Parliament to put it in the power of the Ordnance Survey Department to undertake at once the survey of the counties yet remaining to be surveyed, and to bring the matter to as speedy a conclusion as possible.
§ THE DUKE OF DEVONSHIREI am informed that much has been done to accelerate the re-survey of Ireland during the last three years. The out-turn of the surveyors is fully 75 per cent, greater than it was three years ago, and the out-turn of publication, although it has not yet increased in proportion, will eventually keep pace with the survey unless kept back by want of buildings. The provisions made for the work of the Ordnance Survey in Ireland has been steadily increased in recent years, and amounts this year to as much as £84,000, or more than 37 per cent, of the whole Vote for the United Kingdom. It is expected that the re-survey of Ireland and the publication of the maps will be completed well before the appointed date, viz., the 31st December, 1915. five years earlier than was expected when the programme of the survey was originally arranged. Re-survey on the 434 25-inch scale is proceeding in Antrim, Cork, Donegal, Down, Limerick, Tipperary, and Waterford, and it is complete in Clare, Galway, Kerry, Kilkenny, Mayo, and the south half of Roscommon. The special revision of the 1-inch map of Ireland will also be completed during the present financial year. The President of the Board of Agriculture would be glad to see his way to further the progress of the survey both in Ireland and elsewhere, but the charge upon the Exchequer is a very heavy one, amounting in all to some £282,000, and there is no probability that an application to the Treasury for further funds would be successful.
§ House adjourned at a quarter past Twelve o'clock a.m. till Three o'clock p.m.