§ MR. ARTHUR O'CONNOR (Donegal, E.)asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Whether the attention of the Government has yet been directed to the fact that in large districts of County Donegal, especially the coast and in the mountainous inland parishes, the potato crop averages less than half the usual yield, in many places the return supplying little more than bad seed for next spring, and that the people have, in consequence, been compelled to sell their pigs at serious loss because unable to feed them, while the small farmers have nothing to depend upon for food for themselves except a little oats; whether, if not fully informed, the Government will make immediate and careful inquiry into the condition of the district, and take adequate steps to meet any impending calamity; and, whether it is the intention of the Government to proceed at once with any public works in any, and, if so, which, of the districts referred to?
§ THE SOLICITOR GENERAL FOR IRELAND (Mr. MADDEN) (Dublin University)(who replied) said: Inquiries are being made into the whole matter. It will, however, necessarily take some days before they are completed, and therefore I will ask the hon. Gentleman to defer the Question until Thursday, for which day a Question of a similar nature has been put upon the Paper by the hon. Member for South Donegal (Mr. Mac Neill).