§ MR. T. J. FARRELL (Kerry, S.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether his attention has been directed to the resolutions passed by the priests of the Cahirciveen Deanery, as published in the Irish Daïly Independent, on the 14th instant, in which it is stated that on the 9th May there were seven patients in the Cahirciveen Fever Hospital from Portmagee parish; whether he can mention the date on which the Local Government Board inspector visited the Island of Valentia, and reported that he had visited and ascertained that every destitute person on the island was relieved; whether temporary relief has been repeatedly given to hundreds of destitute families in Cahirciveen district during the past three months from the Mansion House Committee and other charitable sources; whether he can state the amount of relief these destitute families received from Government aid during the same period; is he aware that the rates in the Cahirciveen Union are at present 9s. in the £ valuation, and that the evils with which the people in this locality are face to face are greatly aggravated by the cessation of credit on the part of the shopkeepers, whose resources are almost exhausted, 38 small farmers owing to one merchant for food alone £850; and whether, under the circumstances, he will relieve the guardians from the provision which compels them to become liable for one-fourth of the money expended in relief works in this district?
§ MR. GERALD BALFOUROn Tuesday last the honourable Member for the St. Patrick Division of Dublin drew my attention to the statement in the first paragraph. There were four cases of fever in the union hospital from the Portmagee district on the 9th May, not seven as alleged. There were, however, on the same date three cases in the hospital from the district of Emlagh. The inspector has visited Valentia Island on several occasions during the winter and spring. On the 26th, 27th, and 28th April he was making inquiries throughout the Cahirciveen Union, and on the 27th, when at Portmagee, which is in the Valentia district, he procured all the information possible from the relieving 381 officer and others as to the state of Valentia Island, and satisfied himself that the relieving officer was doing his duty. On the 11th instant the inspector again visited the Island. I have no information as to the extent to which grants from charitable funds have been distributed in the district. The guardians, as the honourable Member is aware, have declined to accept the financial aid offered to them by the Government towards relieving the poor of the union. The average poor rate in the union is this year 2s. 9¾d. in the £. The county cess amounts to 3s. 9d. In the adjoining union of Kenmare, where the average poor rate is 2s. 9d., the guardians have now resolved to adopt the labour test scheme. I have no knowledge of the number of people indebted to the shopkeepers. There is nothing in the circumstances of the Cahirciveen Union which would warrant a departure from the lines on which the scheme of relief measures has been successfully put into operation in districts more congested than Cahirciveen, and in which the poor rates are higher.