§ MR. ARTHUR O'CONNORasked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Whether His Excellency proposes to act upon the recommendations of the Inspectors of Irish Fisheries, and apply to the Treasury or Admiralty for a vessel to protect and assist the Fishing Industries off the Irish Coasts?
§ MR. TREVELYANSir, I will look into this matter and see whether the application is one which ought to be recommended to the favourable consideration of the Treasury. Under present arrangements, vessels such as gunboats are not infrequently lent to the Irish Government by the Admiralty for short periods during the fishery season, when they are required for the protection of the fisheries. And I imagine that if the Inspectors of Fisheries will show sufficient cause, a surveying vessel would be told off, as I think is done in Scotland, to take soundings at a time when it could be spared from general duties.