§ MR. FLAVINI beg to ask the First Lord of the Treasury if he is aware that the public bodies of Kerry, including the Kerry County Council, have unanimously passed resolutions calling on the Government to purchase as a national park the Herbert Estate now offered for sale; whether he is aware that a general expression of opinion prevails throughout the United Kingdom that Killarney ought 76 to be saved from falling into the hands of private individuals, who may possibly altogether close up the grounds or further restrict the few privileges which tourists enjoy in their visit to Killarney; and whether Her Majesty's Government could find some means of buying and preserving for the benefit of the public this attractive estate.
§ THE FIRST LORD OF THE TREASURY (Mr. A. J. BALFOUR) Manchester, E.I cannot add much to what I said yesterday in answer to a question from another hon. Gentleman on the same subject. I believe it is the fact that the County Council of Kerry has passed a resolution in the terms suggested by the question, but I have no evidence that there is a general feeling throughout the United Kingdom that public money ought to be spent in obtaining this public park in Killarney, and there must be obvious objections to the expenditure of public money for such purposes at a place very far distant from any centres of population, and which, from the nature of the case, is not of much value to tourists during many months of the year.
§ MR. FLAVINIs there not some fund out of which a grant could be made to the County Council so that this place may be reserved for the general public; can nothing be obtained from the Financial Relations Committee?
§ No answer was given.