§ MR. FIELDI beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that the total number of emigrants who left Irish ports last month was 8,565, as against 8,105 for the corresponding month of the previous year, and that 8,241 of these, or over 96 per cent., were bound for America; and, seeing that for the four months of the year now passed the total emigration from Ireland was 13,802, being an increase of 2,209 over the number for the same period in 1900, whether the Government intend to propose legislation calculated to keep the people in Ireland by making the occupiers the owners of the land, and whether the Government will consider the necessity of reducing taxation in Ireland in ratio with the reduction of population.
§ MR. WYNDHAMThe percentage of emigrants from Irish ports to the United States in April was 90.5. The total number of emigrants in April and in the first four months of the present year was less for each period than in the corresponding periods of 1900. The decreases in May and the first five months of the present year are still more striking. I cannot discuss future legislation and taxation in reply to a question.