§ Mr. JOHN O'DONNELLasked the Chief Secretary whether he will state what is the aggregate area of the lands flooded, and thereby injured, by the 129 rivers and main streams indexed on the map attached to the appendix to the First Beport of the Royal Commission on Irish Public Works; whether that map was prepared under the direction and at the expense of the Board of Works; and whether it indicated the areas which require drainage, and to be each responsible for the flooding of at least 500 acres?
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§ Mr. BIRRELLThe map referred to was prepared in the Office of Public Works from information supplied by county surveyors. The particulars supplied were not in any way checked or tested, and the map therefore represents simply the opinions of the county surveyors of that time on such information as they had as to the rivers and streams within their counties requiring improvement. The county surveyors were asked to mark on maps all areas of more than 500 acres requiring arterial drainage, and to give an estimate of the acreage of each. Some of them, however, did not give any information at all, and others were not able to give an estimate of acreage, so that it is not practicable to state any figure of aggregate area.