§ COLONEL COLTHURSTasked the Chief Secretary for Ireland, Whether the Government will consider the possibility of further extending the system of loans to fishermen which, carried out in a limited manner under the provisions of the Reproductive Loan Fund Act, has already produced such good effects?
§ MR. W. E. FORSTERSir, this is one of the Questions which ought to be addressed to the Treasury and not to me, as the system of loans can only be extended by the Treasury ordering an annual grant in addition to the present amount granted from the Reproductive Loan Fund. I may add that the management of that Fund, which was formed in 1822, and raised by private subscriptions to deal with the distress in Ireland in that year, has a balance which is in the hands of the Commissioners of Public Works, and therefore, as my hon. Friend is aware, is under the management of the Treasury under the Public Works Act.