§ MR. JUSTIN M'CARTHY (Londonderry)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury what was the cost of Mr. Alan Cole's lectures on lace-making and travelling to Ireland in the autumn of 1888; what was the sum fixed by the Treasury for 1889 which has been practically expended for the lectures given this spring; whether the application from lace centres for two sets of lectures this year have been supported by recom- 110 mendations to the Treasury from the Irish Government that a suitable provision should be made for the continuance of Mr. Cole's services; and whether, considering the information contained in the Thirty sixth Report (lately presented to Parliament) of the Department of Science and Art, sanction can be communicated to the Science and Art Department whereby the discouragement created by the difficulties raised by the Treasury in dealing with this form of technical education may be put an end to, and the efforts to develop the home industry of lace-making in Ireland be met in a more liberal spirit than at present by the Treasury?
§ THE SECRETARY TO THE TREASURY (Mr. JACKSON,) Leeds, N.The expenses of Mr. Alan Cole's visit to Ireland and of his lectures there in the autumn of 1888 amounted to £96 3s. 8d.; (2) the amount sanctioned by the Treasury for lectures this year was £100; (3) the Irish Government recommended that there should be two sets of lectures this year; (4) the hon. Member will scarcely expect me to agree that the Treasury had behaved ill-liberally or raised unnecessary difficulties about these lectures. They were in the nature of an experiment, and the question of their continuance will have to be considered with reference to other expenditure for similar objects.