§ MR. BUTTasked the Chief Secretary for Ireland, When the Report of the Inspectors of Irish Fisheries for the year 1874 will be laid upon the Table of the House; and, whether any loans for fishery purposes have been as yet made under the provisions of the Irish Reproductive Loan Act of last year; and whether any, and if so what, progress has been made in carrying out the arrangements contemplated by that Act?
§ SIR MICHAEL HICKS-BEACHSir, the Report of the Inspectors of Irish Fisheries for 1874 is now all in type, and I am informed that it will be forwarded next week for presentation to Parliament. The Inspectors have been employed for some time past in making the necessary local investigations into the circumstances and bona fides of the various applicants for loans under the Irish Reproductive Loan fund Act, as well as into the solvency of the sureties offered in each case. As many as 2,800 applications have been made. 113 have been approved of and forwarded to the Board of "Works, with whom rests the duty of paying the money. The delay is due to the considerable amount of fresh work which has been thrown by the Act upon the staff of the Fisheries Office.