§ MR. HOOPER (Cork, S.E.)asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Whether he is aware that last January a rule was made by the Inspectors of Irish Fisheries, according to which loans for the building of fishing smacks can be advanced to fishermen on the security of the fishing smacks themselves; whether applications for such a loan were made last February by Kinsale fishermen; and, what is the cause of the great delay in granting the sums applied for?
§ THE CHIEF SECRETARY (Mr. JOHN MORLEY) (Newcastle-on-Tyne)The Rule to which reference is made in this Question was passed by the Privy Council in January last, and applications under it from Kinsale and other parts of Ireland were held over pending a decision of Government as to the extent to which the Rule was intended to apply. The decision arrived at some little time ago was that the extended facilities were intended to be limited principally—indeed, almost exclusively—to applications from the West and North-West Coasts, where the fisheries are least developed. I have no doubt the applicants from Kinsale have been so informed by this time.