§ MR. REARDENsaid, he wished to ask the Chief Secretary for Ireland, Whether it is the intention of Her Majesty's Government to introduce a Bill for advances out of the Consolidated Fund for the purchase and rental of the reclaimable portion of 4,000,000 statute acres of waste land in Ireland, upon security of debentures of £5 and upwards upon the lands so reclaimed, and let or sold in farms of thirty acres each, with three cottages and farm buildings suited to the holdings, with a view to the employment of the labouring population, the diminution of emigration and poor's rates, and to the profitable employment of the capital and time of tenant farmers in Ireland?
LORD NAASsaid, in reply, that any project for giving profitable employment to the labouring population and the capital of Ireland would receive the careful consideration not only of the Government but of that House. He was afraid, however, that the proposal in question, involving the purchase and reclamation of 4,000,000 acres of waste land, was one which he should have some difficulty in persuading his right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the House to undertake.