MR. FIELDI beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether he has read, the Report of the Mansion House Relief Committee, whose funds are exhausted; and whether the Local Government Board will increase the employment at Clifden Prior, Cahirciveen, and other places where the distress is exceptionally acute?
§ MR. GERALD BALFOURIt was stated in newspaper reports of the 19th instant that the funds of the Mansion House Relief Committee were at that date exhausted. The employment of 554 heads of families, representing about 2,000 people, has been authorised in the Clifden Union, and the Local Government Board are prepared to consent to the guardians of this and other unions in which works have been opened placing on the works all persons who are ascertained to be properly eligible for relief from the rates. The Cahirciveen Guardians have so far declined to adopt a labour test as a condition on which relief is given to persons requiring it, and no employment has, therefore, been afforded by them in the locality. In the event of the guardians deciding to open suitable works, the Government will be prepared to give the guardians financial aid in carrying them out.