§ Mr. O'SHAUGHNESSYasked the Chief Secretary for Ireland whether he is aware that the Newcastle West Rural District Council, when estimating a loan for the improvement scheme formulated by them under the Labourers (Ireland) Acts, fixed the total amount of loan at £170 per cottage, but in estimating the amount between the different items exceeded the amount of the arbitration award for the purchase of land, and the Local Government Board cut down the loan by the difference, £2,500, although other items were underestimated and were not referred to; and whether, as the estimate for the loan was made before the arbitration award, it was impossible to fix the exact amount of the loan required to purchase land, and as the loan did not altogether exceed the sum of £170 per cottage and plot, he will direct the Local Government Board to sanction a supplemental loan of £2,500 to enable the council to complete the scheme?
§ Mr. BIRRELLThe hon. Member appears to be under a misapprehension as to the circumstances of this case. The Local Government Board inform me that the Newcastle West Rural District Council applied for a loan of £38,300 in respect of a scheme for the provision of 204 cottages, eight acre allotments, and forty-five additional half-acre allotments. This sum, less the cost of the land, would represent an average of about £180 per cottage. The Board sanctioned a loan of £35,800, comprising £34,680 for the 204 cottages at £170 each, and £1,120 for the purchase of the allotments and other incidental expenses.