There are a few matters I should like to bring to the Minister's attention. The first is the damage that is being done to fences beside the roads in connection with the cleaning of roads. That is a matter I should like the Minister to direct his attention to so that it will not be continued, because it is doing very considerable harm to fences and hedges. The road scrapings, and particularly the scrapings from water channels and passages in many cases, are thrown on top of the hedges, and sometimes on top of the bank at the foot of the fences. Nothing is more injurious to young bushes than these scrapings. I would ask the Minister to give the matter his attention so that the people in authority would realise that it is not a practice that should be continued. I have not made any report on the matter to the Commissioner in Kilkenny, but I think it is a practice that should not be continued because it is doing very much harm.
The second point I want to put forward is that in places where there is no quick hedge or fence, and in some cases where there is, the road scrapings are thrown over the fence into the land, without any authority from the owner of that land. That is not a proper practice either, because there are a lot of weeds and seeds in these scrapings that will do a certain amount of damage to the land, especially if it is tillage land. Some people might not object to this practice at all, but others do, because they have made complaints to me and that is why I mention the matter here.
A third matter I want to direct the Minister's attention to is the making of cottage fences in rural areas. These fences, in the locality where I am living, are big clay banks about five feet wide at the foundation, and four and a half feet wide at the top, and they may be built of some of the best soil on the land the plotholder is going to take over. I know that in many cases the subsoil is practically useless from the point of view of growing anything. Banks of that size will take a considerable amount of clay, and the best of the clay is used. I would recommend to the Minister that some other arrangement should be found so that much of the land to be given over to the plotholders will not be destroyed. I think that a concrete wall of about six inches wide, and about four feet high would be sufficient. It may not cost as much and there would be very much more land for the occupier of the cottage. As I say, as things are at present, there would be about five feet of land taken up by the bank and that amount of land is taken off the acre. I consider that it would be a great help to the owner of the land to have a concrete wall of about six inches wide and four feet high. Apart from the space taken up by the bank, I doubt if it would last. The concrete wall, on the other hand, would be more lasting. Of course, a whitethorn hedge is put into the bank, but it will take some years for such a hedge to develop, and in the meantime you will have young cattle doing considerable damage to these banks before the hedges can afford them any protection. A little wall of the kind I have suggested would be a great protection. It would be quite strong enough and would serve the purpose of giving a good deal more land to the owner of the plot.
Another matter to which I wish to refer is that, in the rural areas, we find it very inconvenient at times to notify a doctor or a veterinary surgeon when we have anyone sick in the house or when we have a sick animal. In most of our local post offices there is a telephone apparatus installed, and if there could be some arrangement arrived at whereby telephones could be installed in the houses of doctors and veterinary surgeons, it would be a great acquisition and convenience to the people in the local areas. Of course, we can send a telegram from most of the post offices, but in a telegram, for 1/6 or 2/-, you can say very little, whereas if you had an opportunity of talking for three minutes over the telephone you could say a good deal and could explain to the doctor what you thought was wrong with the patient, or explain to the veterinary surgeon what you thought was wrong with a sick animal. Even though it might entail a little extra cost on the State or the rate-payers, I think they would be prepared to meet a portion of the cost— say, half on the doctor and half on the rates—or some such arrangement. It would be of the greatest assistance to us in the country, because in some parts of the country we are from 12 to 15 miles away from the doctor, and the same applies to the veterinary surgeon. I do not need to tell anybody here that an hour or two hours, in the case of a sick person or a sick animal, might serve to save their lives. A couple of hours means a lot, and if telephones were installed in the houses of the doctors and veterinary surgeons, we could 'phone to them from the local post office and state what we ourselves thought was wrong. In that way, we would be saving the doctor's time and he could bring the required medicine or surgical apparatus, or whatever he thought necessary. As I have said, one cannot say very much in a telegram costing 1/6 or 2/-. I think that this matter is worthy of consideration, and I ask the Minister for Local Government and Public Health to consider it. It would be a great convenience to the farmers and also to the poor. Doctors do not always insist on a red ticket being handed to them by a poor person. There may be an odd doctor here and there, but as far as I know, doctors do not insist on the strict letter of the law in that respect. Some doctors do not mind whether the red ticket is handed to them or whether he gets it when he calls to the house. Accordingly, if some such arrangement as I have suggested with regard to the installation of telephones could be arrived at, it would be a great help to the poor as well as to the farmers, and I suggest that the Minister should take the matter under consideration.
I do not think there is very much more that I have to say, except that I should like to know who is responsible for the upkeep of the fences erected around those cottages in the rural areas—whether it is the tenant living in the cottage or the local authority—because I am of opinion that the banks that are being built at the moment will not last long, and there will be trouble in a year or two. They will be falling down through cattle scratching against them. If some of these young black cattle get near a fence, I do not think any bank would be able to stand the pucking they will give it. I do not know whether it is the local authority or the tenant that is responsible for the upkeep of these fences, and I think that that should be made known to the people in time. At any rate, as I said before, that is why I am more or less inclined to recommend the concrete wall about which I spoke in the beginning of my speech. I think it is very necessary that some such arrangement should be come to in the near future.
There is another matter to which I should like to refer, and that is the matter of the tarring of roads. Of course, I need not say that I am not opposed in any way to the tarring of the roads, because I realise that the surface cannot be kept without tarring. I know that it is necessary that the roads should be tarred. even though we farmers suffer great inconvenience by the tarring where horse-traffic and even cattle are concerned. We suffer a good deal of loss through accidents due to the tarring, but I do not think that can be helped. I should like to suggest, however, that a margin of about three feet or three and a half feet beside the road should always be left untarred; and I hold that none of the head officials, county surveyor or anybody else, should be allowed to tar the road from side to side. The margin which has been left on some roads is sometimes neglected. I know it is not easy to repair the margin because the steam roller cannot be used upon it, but the margin is very essential to farmers. Horses must be newly shod to travel safely on a tarred road and they cannot at all times be kept in that condition. They are therefore very liable to fall on a tarred road and many horses have been hurt in that way, while those in charge of them are also in danger. Farmers are held responsible for accidents that may happen in that way.
We have also suffered a good deal from accidents to cattle on the roads, especially milch cows. I live beside a main road which has been tarred for the last 15 or 16 years and, although I am in favour of tarring roads, I have suffered a great deal of inconvenience and loss owing to it. At least three or four of my cattle have been hurt on the roads and some of them have had to be sent to the kennels. We are prepared to suffer loss because we cannot see any other method by which the roads can be kept in proper repair, but I would urge on the Minister that provision should be made for such a margin as I have suggested. I hope the Minister will give consideration to the few matters which I have brought to his attention.