CAPTAIN McCALMONTI beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, whether the whole of the £30,000 has been expended during the last six or seven years by the Congested Districts Board in connection with horse breeding; has all been expended in the parts of Ireland known as the Congested Districts; and, would he appoint a small Committee to take the opinions of experts in England and Ireland as to whether the present system is calculated to be beneficial or injurious to horse breeding in Ireland, and report thereon to the Irish Government?
§ Mr. GERALD BALFOURThe total expenditure of the Congested Districts Board upon horses up to the present date may be said to amount to about £30,000. All this money was spent for the benefit of congested districts, but the Board's depôt, where horses are kept during the period of the year when they are not required for service in country districts, is at Shankill, County Dublin. As to the work of the Congested Districts Board in connection with horse breeding, I see no sufficient reason for the appointment of a committee of experts as suggested; but I may assure my hon. Friend that the Board would be grateful for an expression of an opinion and for suggestions from gentlemen of experience interested in the improvement of the breed of horses in congested districts.