Galway County Council, County Secretary's Office / Drainage District, Killimor
File of correspondence relating to proposed drainage works under the Arterial Drainage Act 1925. Includes petitions from land owners for extension and resumption of a scheme, includes copy of letters from the Galway County Council and the Office of Public Works to the landowners and the Scheme's Trustees or their legal representatives regarding the scheme, such as:-
'We examined the proposal and found that a drainage scheme which would be economic for the occupiers of affected lands could not be prepared without the aid of large free grants from both the Government and the Galway County Council. The scheme was submitted to the latter body in connection with the question of free grants but it was not one of those towards which the Council decided to make a contribution from County funds. In the circumstances we were unable to proceed further in the matter' (1930-09-16).
Ongoing correspondence includes details regarding the debts of the old drainage Board (under the Drainage and Improvement of Land (Ireland) Act, 1892) relating to works carried out in 1923, and though a scheme costing £22,130 was approved by the Council (an estimate 6,920 acres would benefit from the scheme), as the Council would not initially accept responsibility for the debts of the old Board, which did not exceed £600, the matter was outstanding for some time. Though the Council, in March 1935, rescinded its former resolution 'declining to accept liability for the debts of the old Drainage Board if the proposed drainage works are carried out in the Killimore Drainage District' further delays ensued as a number of the drainage ratepayers in the districted declined to 'accept liability for the debts of the old Board which they contend are not legally due' (1935-03-19).
The Office of Public Works advised the County in April 1939 that it had been decided to 'suspend the investigation' of the proposed drainage scheme 'pending the decision on the such recommendations as may be made by the Commission appointed by the Government to review the problem of drainage throughout the county' (1935-04-19)
The file concludes with copy letter from Galway County Council to the trustees' solicitor, James J. Kearns & Son, advising that 'Galway County Council is in no way responsible for the maintenance of the Killimore Drainage District. ...The County Council referred it (the Petition) to the Board of Works, and the Board of Works declined, in the first instance, to proceed with the examination of the Drainage District for the purpose of preparing a Drainage Scheme until such time as the Council would rescind a Resolution which had been adopted by the Council repudiating liability for the debts of the Old Board. The Council in order to put the matter in order and to enable the Commissioners of Public Works to proceed with the Scheme, rescinded its Resolution but requested the Commissioners of Public Works when submitting the Drainage Scheme to the occupiers of the land proposed to be benefited, to explain to them that if the Scheme were adopted the debts due by the old Board would have to be levied on the Drainage District' (1940-02-21).
The Arterial Drainage (Ireland) returns of 21 March 1857 to the House of Commons record that the Killimor drainage district was comprised of 6,346 acres, 2 roods and 24 perches; the increase in annual letting value of the lands caused by drainage was £1,500.13.1; the date of the award was 20 March 1856; and the total cost of the works was £55,040.17.10, with £21,000 charged to proprietors of lands drained or improved. (<http://eppi.dippam.ac.uk/pdf1/3806.pdf>, accessed Dec 2012)