§ CAPTAIN DONELAN (Cork, E.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland—(1) whether he has received a letter, written by a member of an extensive firm of Irish oat exporters, which states that, owing to the large stocks of old oats remaining in merchants' hands, and unsaleable except under cost, new oats will probably have to be sold at much under the lowest average touched for the past 25 years; and (2) whether he will cause inquiry to be made in the matter; and, should this forecast prove correct, will he take any steps to give temporary relief to Irish farmers?
§ MR. GERALD BALFOURI have received a letter which the hon. Gentleman has been good enough to send to me, containing the statement made in the first paragraph of the question. This forecast, as I stated yesterday in reply to the hon. Member's question on the subject, is necessarily of a speculative character, and even if it proved correct I could not undertake to introduce a measure of the kind indicated.
§ CAPTAIN DONELANI beg to ask, whether the facts mentioned in this question, together with the low price of butter and the disastrous harvest weather in Ireland, would not justify the right hon. Gentleman in affording some temporary relief to Irish farmers?
§ MR. GERALD BALFOURNo, Sir; I am afraid not.