§ MR. MICHAEL AUSTIN (Limerick, W.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland if he has received a resolution from the Listowel Board of Guardians, directing attention to the distress existing among the labouring classes in several parts of the Union, owing to the want of employment and the almost total failure of the potato crop; and, whether, in view of this state of affairs, the Government will see the necessity that exists of opening relief works in the district mentioned?
§ MR. GERALD BALFOURI have received a copy of the resolution referred to. Careful inquiries which have been made as to the condition of the poorer classes in the Listowel Union do not point to the conclusion that it will become necessary to supplement the resources of the poor law by the opening of relief works.