§ MR. JAMES DALY (Monaghan, S.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland—(1) if he is aware that the flax crop in Ulster is very inferior and in many cases a total failure, and that in several instances, owing to the dryness of the months of April and May, the flax-seed did not grow and the land had to be ploughed up; and (2) whether, having regard to the failure of the flax crop in Ulster, he will cause an immediate revision of rents or some other means of relieving the farmers of that province?
§ MR. GERALD BALFOURI have not before me detailed reports of the yield of the flax crop during the present season, though I believe it is a fact that the crop has been, on the whole, a poor one. The reply to the second paragraph is in the negative. I may add that inquiry has been commenced by the Government into the means best adapted for improving the cultivation and treatment of flax in Ulster. ["Hear, hear!"]