§ MR. RICHARDSTo ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of 895 Ireland, whether he will state under whose authority, and on what grounds, the circular of a private publisher in the City of Dublin has been sent out by the Board of Agriculture in Dublin in envelopes bearing their imprint and On His Majesty's Service; and, if the book or documents in question are official in their character, whether he will explain why they were not sent out in the ordinary course among the Parliamentary Papers to all Members of the House of Commons.
(Answer.) The volume in question is not an official publication in the sense of being a Parliamentary Paper. It is a work on the economic resources of Ireland prepared by the Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction for Ireland, in connection with their general work in spreading information on the industrial condition of that country, and educating public opinion on the character and aims of their own schemes. The present edition of the book, which was originally published by the Department in connection with their exhibit at the Glasgow Exhibition of last year, is being issued under the terms of a special agreement with a firm of publishers, and partly in connection with the Department's exhibit at the Cork Exhibition. The circular issued was prepared by the publishers, but the Department, in furtherance of the aim of the book, sent from their central office a limited number of circulars to representative public men who, it was thought, would be interested in the contents of the volume.—(Irish Office.)