MR. FIELD (Dublin, St. Patrick)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether his attention has been called to a resolution signed by the 12 priests of the deanery of Cahirciveen, county Kerry, in which it is asserted that on the 9th May there were seven fever patients in the Cahirciveen Union Hospital from Portmagee parish; and whether he would submit to the investigation of a small independent committee the specific issue raised as to the actual number of fever patients in the Cahirciveen Fever Hospital from Portmagee parish on 9th May, with a view to determine the general accuracy of the information supplied to him by his officials on the subject of the present exceptional distress along the west coast of Ireland?
§ THE CHIEF SECRETARY FOR IRELAND (Mr. G. W. BALFOUR,) Leeds, CentralThe Resolution as published is in the following terms—
When Mr. Balfour asserts that on the 9th May there were only two fever patients from 1537 Portmagee in the Cahirciveen Fever Hospital, we beg to assure him that there were seven such patients from Portmagee parish in the Fever Hospital at that date.It is not the fact that I made the assertion attributed to me in this Resolution. What I said on the 9th instant was that the inspector had reported on the 28th April that only two fever cases from Portmagee were in hospital. I am inquiring whether the number of cases had increased to seven on the 9th instant, and whence they came, and see no reason to delegate inquiry into this very simple question of fact to a small independent committee, as suggested by the honourable Member.