§ MR. EDWARD MITCHELLI beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether his attention has been called to a case recently heard in the Chancery Division of the High Court of Justice in Ireland wherein application was made for the winding-up of a boot manufacturing company in Ballina, and where, in the course of the proceedings, it was stated that the Department of Agriculture for Ireland was a creditor to the amount of over £500, having lent that sum to subsidise the industry; and, if so, will he say whether the lending of money for such an object is one of the objects of the Department.
§ MR. ATKINSON (for Mr. WYNDHAM)The Department made the loan in question for the purpose of providing machinery to be used in the school promoted by the Ballina Technical Instruction Committee, and to be employed by the committee, acting in conjunction with the boot manufacturing company, converting unskilled into skilled labour. The Department is empowered to provide machinery for the purposes of technical instruction.