§ 1. "That a sum, not exceeding £26,271, he granted to Her Majesty, to complete the sum necessary to defray the Charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of March 1890, for the Salaries and Expenses of the Offices of the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of -Ireland in Dublin and London, and Subordinate Departments."
§ MR. A. O'CONNORWhen this Vote was under discussion I asked the Chief Secretary's attention to the serious disadvantages under which the Irish fishing industry labours as compared with the Scotch fisheries, especially in regard to trawling, the Irish fishermen having been denied, the facilities which are enjoyed by Scotland. I regret that in his reply the Chief Secretary took no notice of my statements. I endeavoured to put the case before him as fairly as possible, and I must repeat that I am surprised he did not take the least notice of the representations I made. I do not know whether it is necessary that one should assume a tone of asperity in order to secure attention at the hands of the right hon. Gentleman. I will now ask the First Lord of the Treasury if he sees any reason for refusing us the facilities which Scotland possesses. I spoke especially of the experiments which had been made in the Firth of Forth.
§ MR. A. J. BALFOURThe hon. Gentleman is aware that after he spoke on this Vote the Debate took a somewhat different turn, and that fact will probably account for my omission to reply to him. It was an inadvertent omission, and there was certainly no discourtesy intended on my part. I am quite aware that the Irish Fishery Board is not in precisely the same position as the Scotch Fishery Board in respect to steam trawling. The matter, however, is one rather for the Treasury than for the Irish Government. It has suggested itself to me that instead of having these experiments carried out on a small and perhaps inadequate scale partly in Scotland, 222 partly in Ireland, and partly in England, by independent authorities, it would be far better to have a single scheme, carried on for the general benefit of the United Kingdom. But this raises a large question.
§ Resolution and the following eight Resolutions, agreed to.
§ On Resolution 10,
§ MR. PICKERSGILL (Bethnal Green, S.W.)In consequence of the reply made by the Home Secretary when this Vote was under discussion, I should like to quote some figures from the Report of the Chief Commissioner on the question of the increase of population and of crime. The Home Secretary alleged that in speaking of the increase of crime I had not taken into account the increase of population. But what does this Report show? It shows that between 1887 and 1888 the population of the Metropolis increased 2 per cent, while felonies committed within the Metropolitan area increased 10 per cent in the same period. I am, therefore, surprised that the Home Secretary should close his eyes to open and palpable facts instead of recognising them and applying appropriate remedies.
§ Resolution and the two following Resolutions agreed to.