§ Mr. CHARLES CRAIGasked the Chief Secretary if he can explain why the rents of labourers' cottages in Antrim and Lisbum rural districts, in the county of Antrim, range from 1s. 6d. to 2s., while in the Aghaleee districts they are only 1s. and in the Ballymena and Ballymoney districts they are only 1s. 3d.?
§ Mr. BIRRELLThe rents of cottages let before the Act of 1906 were left by the then existing statutes wholly at the discretion of the local authority in each case. The disparity between the rents charged in the rural districts mentioned can only be accounted for by the fact that different opinions appear to prevail in different districts as to the relative proportion of the annual charge incurred in providing the cottages and plots which should be borne by the labourers and the ratepayers respectively.