§ COLONEL NOLAN (Galway, N.)I beg to ask Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer if until about 1884 it was a custom to devote a separate sum of £8,000 a year solely to the construction of small Irish harbours; if about 1884 494 the Treasury absorbed this £8,000, granting in lieu thereof a sum of about £220,000 for creating similar harbours; it this £220,000 was drawn exclusively from an Irish and not from an Imperial fund and is long since expended; and if, under the circumstances, he would consider the expediency of reviving the annual £8,000 which was made until about 1884 for the above purpose.
§ SIR M. HICKS BEACHDown to about 1884 a sum of varying amount was annually voted by Parliament in aid of the construction of minor Fishery Piers and Harbours. In 1883 a sum of a quarter of a million was provided out of the Irish Church Fund under the Sea Fisheries Act for these purposes, and it therefore became unnecessary to apply to Parliament so long as the fund created by that Act lasted. The fund is not yet quite exhausted, but the question of the future policy in regard to such works has not been lost sight of.
§ MR. T. M. HEALYIs the right hon. Gentleman aware that in answer to previous questions it has been stated that the fund is exhausted?
§ SIR M. HICKS BEACHNo, Sir, I am informed that it is not.
§ MR. T. M. HEALYWell, we have been told so for the last seven years.