§ MR. JAMES ROCHE (Kerry, E.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether there is any fund now available, a small portion of which could be applied towards a short but urgently needed piece of railway extension in a very distressed portion of the county of Kerry; and, if so, whether, if the fact is brought to his notice that all the adjacent landowners give their land gratis, that the railway company affected contributes the chief portion of the capital required, and that all that is now needed is some slight assistance from the Treasury in order to complete an undertaking that, besides 1218 being self-supporting in the future, would give employment in the present to a sorely tried community, he would consent to receive a deputation on the subject or otherwise favourably consider it?
§ MR. GERALD BALFOURAs I have already more than once stated, the entire sum made available for the construction of light railways in Ireland by the Railway Act of 1896 has been hypothecated, with the exception of a small margin required for contingencies.