§ MR. WILLIAM ABRAHAM (Cork County, N.E.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware of the fact that the secretary of the Viceregal Commission on Salmon Fishing in Ireland, in reply to a communication on behalf of the Mallow Board of Conservators, stated that they would hear no evidence on behalf of the 178 upper water proprietors as to the Queen's Gap in the weir on the River Blackwater at Lismore, on the ground that the question of its legality was sub judice; will he explain why, although the engineer to the Mallow Conservators also applied to give evidence about the Lismore weir, without receiving any reply, the Viceregal Commission permitted the agent to the owner of the Lismore weir, and his engineer, to give evidence before them, arguing that the weir was a legal structure; and will any steps be taken to have the views of both sides represented.
§ THE CHIEF SECRETARY FOR IRELAND (Mr. G. W. BALFOUR,) Leeds, CentralThe examination of witnesses by the Inland Fisheries Commission is a matter for the consideration of the Commissioners themselves, acting under the powers conferred upon them by their warrant of appointment, and the Government cannot undertake to make representations to them in the direction suggested in the question. Any such representations should be made to the Commissioners direct or through their secretary.