§ MR. MITCHELL HENRYasked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Whether he will endeavour to arrange with the Admiralty to place at the disposal of the Fishery Commissioners during the summer a suitable vessel, with the necessary apparatus, in order to determine whether a valuable bank of fish exists in the west of Ireland near to Clifden and the adjacent islands?
§ MR. TREVELYANWithout further information on the subject than the Government have been able to obtain since this Question was put on the Paper, they are unable to give any undertaking in the souse desired by the hon. Member.
§ MR. MITCHELL HENRYI would ask the right hon. Gentleman whether the Government will endeavour to obtain further information, or am I to accept his answer as a declaration that the Government prefers that the starving inhabitants of the West shall be eaten up by the fish rather than that the fish shall supply food for them?
§ MR. TREVELYANThe hon. Member generalizes a good deal too much. He asks whether, at a particular point of the Irish coast, more than at any other point, the Government, without any other authority, will send a ship? That is a Question which demands a good deal of consideration, which I think is not unreasonable. If a ship were sent to every point that the hon. Member suggests without examination on that coast it is obvious that great and unnecessary expense would be incurred.
§ MR. MITCHELL HENRYI fear I have not made my Question intelligible to the right hon. Gentleman. I ask the right hon. Gentleman whether, in a par- 533 titular district in which there is chronic destitution and famine, and as to which it has been reported by the Fishery Commissioners that there are extensive banks of fish, Her Majesty's Government will take means to inquire into the existence of such banks of fish?
§ [No reply was given.]