§ Mr. E. KELLYasked the Chief Secretary for Ireland whether, although there is an urgent need for sanitary dwellings for agricultural labourers in the Newtown-Cunningham district, the Londonderry (No. 2) Rural District Council has been allowed to postpone the carrying out of a scheme which was formulated five years ago; if so, on what grounds this permission was given; and how much money is at present available for schemes under the Labourers Acts?
§ Mr. MACPHERSONThe scheme referred to by the hon. Member does not appear to have been made by the Londonderry (No. 2) Rural District Council, although one was in contemplation shortly before the War, but it had to be deferred by them when hostilities broke out, in view of the restrictions found necessary to be placed on capital expenditure consequent upon that event. From the recent minutes of the council, it appears that a number of representations have just been received by them under the Labourers Acts, the consideration of which they postponed for six months. No appeal has been received by the Local Government Board as regards this postponement by the council. As a matter of fact, the amount already sanctioned to the Londonderry (No. 2) Rural District Council out of the funds provided under the Labourers Acts, 1906, 1911, and 1914,is £28,290, and represents a sum of nearly £3 10s. per head of the population of the rural district, which is about double the average rate for the whole of the rural districts in Ireland. The total amount of the funds in question is £6,250,000, and advances have been sanctioned amounting to £5,138,420, leaving a balance of £1,111,580 remaining