§ Mr. MOLLOYasked the Chief Secretary whether his attention has been drawn to the fact that the Local Government Board for Ireland have refused to make loans for housing in certain cases unless a more efficient system of sewerage is adopted than that which exists at present; whether he is aware that in the county of Carlow and elsewhere the system adopted in some towns is that of allowing the sewage to go into the River Barrow, and that any other system would be so costly as to be beyond the financial resources of the localities concerned; and whether, in these circumstances, he will consider the desirability of legislation in the immediate future with a view to carrying out the recommendation contained in the Eight Report of the Royal Commission on Sewage Disposal to the effect that the law should be altered so that the discharge of sewage matter into a stream shall not be deemed to be an offence under the Rivers Pollution Prevention Act, 1876, if the sewage matter is discharged in a form which satisfies the requirements thereafter set out?
§ Mr. BIRRELLWhere in the districts of local authorities seeking borrowing facilities for housing purposes the sewage is discharged in such a condition as to lead to a contravention of the Rivers Pollution Prevention Acts it has been the practice of the Local Government Board to require that earth closets should be provided in connection with housing schemes. Legislation to amend the Rivers Pollution Prevention Acts on the lines recommended in the Eighth Report of the Royal Commission on Sewage Disposal is much to be desired, but I cannot hold out hopes of separate legislation on the subject for Ireland.