§ DR. TANNER (Cork Co., Mid)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether information has reached him that the Government seed potatoes supplied to the farmers and labourers by the Castletownbere Board of Guardians have proved a failure; and whether, in consequence of the low prices in cattle and the local failure of the fishing season, further distress is anticipated in this district?
§ MR. A. J. BALFOURThe Government have not supplied any seed potatoes to farmers in the district mentioned. No information has reached me that the seed supplied by the Board of Guardians under their powers under the recent Seed Supply Act have proved a failure. I understand, however, that a correspondence has been passing in the local Press on the subject, but that the conclusion come to is that there is no present ground for alarm.