§ MR. ARCHDALE (Fermanagh, N.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland if his attention has been called to a letter from Mr. Young, late inspector of loan funds in Ireland; and whether, taking into account the fact that so many of the poorer and industrial classes in Ireland, both debenture holders in and borrowers from the loan funds, have been ruined by the gross mismanagement of the local offices, and as the letter referred to now discloses, by the neglect of the Central Board in Dublin appointed by Government, he will endeavour to bring in the Charitable Loans (Ireland) Bill, or some other Bill, by which the loan fund victims may recover some of their loss.
§ MR. G. W. BALFOURThe reply to the first paragraph is in the affirmative. The abuses in the working of the Loan Fund Societies were disclosed, not by the reports of the late inspector, but by the report of the committee appointed to 34 inquire into the system. The object of the Charitable Loans Bill is to provide means for the more effectual recovery of outstanding debts in connection with these societies; but if the Bill is opposed there is little hope, I am afraid, that the Government will be able to pass it through Parliament during the present session.