§ MR. P. J. CLANCY (Dublin Co., N.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether he will favourably consider the question of establishing a Chair of Agriculture in the Queen's College, Galway?
MR. J. MORLEYThe charter granted to this college in 1849 provided for a chair of agriculture. Subsequently, however, the Irish Government came to the conclusion that the three colleges of Galway, Cork, and Belfast would be benefited by the augmentation of the stipends of the professors at the cost of the abolition of certain of the then existing chairs, and it was decided to abolish the chair of agriculture as of subordinate importance to the colleges regarded as educational establishments. This change was practically carried into effect by the new charters of 1863, which provided that the next vacancies in that chair should not be filled. A. re-establishment of the chair of agriculture would probably necessitate a fresh allocation of the endowment and reduction of the stipends of the other chairs, and I am not aware of the existence of any general desire for the re-establishment of the chair at Galway College.