HC Deb 28 November 1917 vol 99 c2048W
Mr. FIELD

asked the Chief Secretary for Ireland whether he is aware that the rural labourers' cottages under the 1883 Act are superior to forty of the forty-four cottages in respect of which £148 per house by way of loan was given to Mr. Smith-Barry; that seventeen two-storey houses, with modern sanitary and other accommodation, were built by the urban district council in 1900; and that the contract for these was £2,516, or exactly £148 per house; whether he is aware that those houses are superior to the Barrymore cottages and that the cost of labour, etc., was much higher when they were built than in 1878–80, when the Barrymore cottages were erected; and whether, having regard to all the circumstances, he will now agree to order a sworn inquiry into the application of housing loans under the Land Improvement Acts?

Mr. DUKE

I would refer the hon. Member to the answers I gave to his questions yesterday and on the 26th June.