§ Mr. FLYNNasked the Chief Secretary for Ireland whether he has received from the Charleville Rural District Council a copy of a resolution of that board, passed on the 20th instant, calling his attention to the action of the Local Government Board in blocking the Charleville Rural District Labourers (Unopposed) Order, 1908, which provides for the erection of 75 labourers' dwellings with garden allotments; is he aware that the medical officer of health for the district, Dr. Cremin, in his report re notification under the Tuberculosis Act, condemned many of the existing dwellings of the workers as hovels where tuberculous patients lived and died; that the rural district council, acting on that opinion and on their own knowledge of the want of decent housing accommodation, prepared the above-named scheme and paid all costs and expenses in connection therewith; and whether, under these circumstances, he has sanctioned the action of the Local Government Board in thwarting the efforts of the local governing authorities in executing a work of improvement and health protection for the working classes of the district?
The HON. MEMBERfurther asked the Chief Secretary in connection with a scheme for the housing of the town workers under the Labourers Act, 1906, prepared by Charleville Rural District Council, whether he is aware that the council acquired a suitable site, held in fee and practically free of all charges, and 2143W the price of which was agreed upon unanimously by the members of the council, and a detailed estimate thereof sent to the Local Government Board; that the Board sent down a provisional order confirming this part of the scheme, in addition to Part I., demanded costs of the inquiry in connection with the scheme which had been paid by the council; and that subsequently the Board prevented the council from proceeding with the scheme after the council had paid all expenses upon the ground that the agreed-on price for the site was too high; and whether, under such circumstances, he will take steps to provide that the action of the popularly elected representatives of the district, when proceeding within the law, shall not be overruled?
§ Mr. CHERRYI will answer these two questions together. I understand that the rural district council were informed early in November, 1908, that the inclusion in the inspector's order relating to their compulsory scheme of the agreement scheme referred to in these questions did not vest the lands in them, or limit the power of the Local Government Board to withhold their sanction to the loan or expenditure involved, if the Board were not satisfied that the price proposed to be paid for the land was reasonable. On 15th December last the Board informed the council that their proposal to purchase a field of 14¾ acres for £1,200 could not be sanctioned, as the Board considered the price to be largely in excess of the value of the land. The amount has since been reduced to £1,150, but this is still much too high, and the Board have declined to sanction it, as they feel that they cannot properly do so in view of the responsibility cast upon them of being as economical as possible, so as to secure the most satisfactory results out of the limited fund provided by Parliament for the purposes of the Labourers Acts.