84" MrNUTES OF EVIDENCE BEFORE SELECT COMMITTEE Can vou inform the Committee, whether a considerable part of the streets of Dublin, Sackville- street for instance, is not paved with powder pavement?— I am l not acquainted with Dublin, so that I cannot say. What office did Mr. T. Owens hold ?— He was surveyor of the parish; he was superintendent of the lamps, and he was overseer of the sweepers. Will you explain an item here, " Paid discount 011 country notes, in order to pay at the bank, 100/. us. id. on account of T. Owens's note, to William White for oil ?"— That was a note passed by T. Owens to Mr. White for oil, and when the note fell due, there was no money in my hands to pay it but country notes, and they would not take those country notes at the bankers, in payment of the bill for the oil, and it was necessary that a discount should be made for those country notes. Here is, " Paid T. Mackie for sundry works done;" is he not also a surveyor ?— No, he is not; he never was surveyor. He is an architect, is he not?— He is. Is he employed under the Grand Canal company ?— He is. What is the amount of Mr. Owens's salaries for his different offices ?— He has forty guineas a year as surveyor, fifty guineas a year for superintending the lighting of the lamps, and he has ten guineas a year for overseeing the sweepers. Do you never employ any other surveyor in the parish than Mr. Owens?— No. There is a charge here, " Paid for completing the sewer in the front areas, from S. Alexander's corner to Denmark- street, and from thence across George- street to the river;" do you recollect that charge ?— Yes. Who was it executed that work ?— I forget, except I were to refer to the particular counts; I believe it was done under my superintendence of the surveyor's. Was it done by contract ?— No; 1 believe it was done under the surveyor's super intendence, and paid for by me. Are the Committee to understand then, that the surveyor is paid afterwards for surveying his own works ?— No; he only surveys it, he does not execute it. Who executed the work ?— I believe it was executed by men employed by the surveyor. Then it was the surveyor's work ?— No; he employed men to clean the sewer, masons to take up the flag stones, and labourers to clean it out; and then, if that was the way it was done, he gives me every week a bill of the expenses of paying those labourers, and cleaning the sewers, which I pay. And then he is paid afterwards as a surveyor ?— No; he makes no profit by su- perintending the works; it is his duty as the surveyor. Was this made by Mr. Owens ?— Under his superintendence I believe it was; but he is paid forty guineas a year salary for superintending those works, and seeing them executed by the labourers. And does he report the manner in which they are executed afterwards ?— He does; he is on oath ; and his oath is, on his account, in the ledger. Then he first surveys the work, then he does the work, and then he is paid for reporting that it is well executed?— He is not paid for that, that is part of his duty. That is what he is paid his salary for ?— That is part of his duty as surveyor; every thing that falls under his duty, as the surveyor of the parish, it is his duty to execute, for which he receives a salary of forty guineas a year. Do you mean to say that any part of this work was executed by Mr. Owens by contract, or that he had any interest in it ?— Not at all. Was he employed under the commissioners to superintend the work?— He was. Were the men paid by the day ?— They were. Did he then derive any profit from the work?— None at all. Was the work well done in the end ?— Yes ; he reported it as well done. Was there any complaint made of the insufficiency of the work ?— No, not that I know of. Is it a work under ground?— The sewer certainly is under ground. Therefore it is not easy for any one to know whether it is well done or not, except the man who executes it ?—- Certainly, except the surveyor. Has it ever wanted doing since ?— I do not know as to that, the sewers frequently get obstructed. How many years back is this ?— I do not know, except I look at the account; there is hardly a year but what some of the sewers are obstructed. You