§ MR. D. CRILLY (Mayo, N.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (1) whether he is aware that the right Rev. Monsignor Hewson, P.P. of Belmullet, has resigned his position as Chairman of the Belmullet Dispensary Committee; and, (2) if the right hon. Gentleman, as Chairman of the Local Government Board of Ireland, can state the reasons given for his resignation?
§ MR. GERALD BALFOURI believe the fact is as stated in the first paragraph. No reason, so far as I am aware, was given by the reverend gentleman for resigning his membership of the Committee.
§ MR. CRILLYI beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (1) if he is aware that Miss Allen, of Crumlin, county Dublin, having heard that a serious outbreak of fever had taken place in the Belmullet Union, offered her services free to the local board of guardians, and travelled to Belmullet at her own expense to discharge the duties of chief hospital nurse; (2) whether Miss Denny and Miss McAlister, two trained nurses from the City of Dublin Hospital, are now lying in the fever hospitæl at Belmullet as a consequence of their attention to the fever patients on Iniskea Island; and (3) if the Government propose to provide out of their own resources adequate nursing and medical attention for these poor people?
§ MR. GERALD BALFOURI have no information as to the statements in the first paragraph. The second and third paragraphs I will deal with in answer to the next Question on the Paper.
§ MR. CRILLYI beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland if he has had any recent report from the officials of the Local Government Board of Ireland dealing with the outbreak of fever in the Belmullet Union; whether he is aware that, on the 6th June, 44 persons were prostrated by fever in the South Island of Iniskea out of a total of 37 families; that 20 cases were reported last week; that two of the nurses attending these fever cases in Iniskea have been attacked by fever, and were on Friday last brought to the mainland and placed in hospital; and that three other nurses have been telegraphed for to Dublin, and an advertisement published for a second medical officer; and, what steps, if any, the Government propose to take to deal with the existing distress, both from famine and fever, in the Belmullet Union?
§ MR. GERALD BALFOURI received only yesterday a report from the Medical Inspector of the Local Government Board respecting the outbreak of fever on Iniskea Island. It had not been found possible, in the brief interval since the question was placed on the Paper, to ascertain the number of fever patients on the 6th June, but it appears that on the following day there were 12 cases in the acute stage and 30 in the convalescent stage. One new case was reported last week, not twenty as alleged. There are now in all 14 cases in the acute stage of fever, three under observation, and 18 in the convalescent stage. Two of the nurses contracted the fever and are under treatment in Belmullet. Additional nurses to replace them, as well as a resident medical officer, were landed on the Island on Sunday. All the necessary steps have been taken by the Board of Guardians acting as the Sanitary Authority, and the Local Government Board will continue to advise and assist them in the administration of their statutory powers. As I have already pointed out to the hon. Member, I am not aware of the existence of famine in the Union.