§ DR. ROBERT AMBROSE (Mayo, W.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether his attention has been called to the acute distress which prevails in the Nephin Mountain electoral divisions of the Castlebar Union owing to the failure of the potato crop and the low price of agricultural produce; and what steps he proposes to take to mitigate such distress, and to enable the people to crop their holdings during the coming spring?
§ MR. GERALD BALFOURRepresentations have been made alleging the existence of distress in the locality mentioned in the Question, but the official Reports received do not indicate anything in the nature of abnormal destitution which the Poor Law will be unable to cope with, or which calls for the opening of relief works as suggested in the memorials addressed to Government.