§ SIR CHARLES LEWIS (Antrim, N.)asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Whether the Government is aware of the serious difficulties connected with social and business life endured by the 350 subjects of Her Majesty in Rathlin Island, situate in the County Antrim, about seven miles from the Giants' Causeway; whether the communication with the mainland is a matter of great danger and difficulty, especially in the winter, owing to the strong currents and tides running between the Island and main land, while the absence of any harbour not only aggravates that evil, but causes delay in the delivery of the mails, the mail boats being frequently obliged to return without delivery of the mails; whether he is aware that there is no resident medical man, and no little difficulty sometimes in providing one, owing to the danger and difficulty of communicating with the shore, while the fishing industry is seriously depressed by reason of these unfavourable conditions; and, whether the Government will secure the outlay of a moderate sum which would provide for the wants of the Island, in the construction of a sufficient fishery harbour?
THE CHIEF SECRETARY (Mr. A. J. BALFOUR) (Manchester, E.), in reply, said, the Inspectors of Irish Fisheries informed him that there was no sum available in their hands for providing for the work which had been suggested; and the Royal Commission on Public Works in Ireland did not, as he gathered, recommend this as one of the cases for expenditure.