§ MR. CHARLES CRAIG (Antrim, S.)I beg to ask the President of the Board of Trade whether the Committee which has been appointed to inquire into the Bankruptcy Laws has received instructions to investigate the state of the Law in Ireland; and, if not, whether, having regard to the desire in Ireland to have the Law altered so as to conform with the English Bankruptcy Law, he will arrange that the question of Irish Bankruptcy Law shall be inquired into.
§ MR. LLOYD-GEORGEThe terms of reference to the Committee appointed by the Board of Trade are wide enough to include Ireland; but the Committee has no representative of Irish opinion upon it. It is a purely Departmental Committee, and as the powers of the Board of Trade in relation to Bankruptcy matters do not extend to Ireland they would not be justified in investigating the question of the Irish Bankruptcy Laws except with the assent of the Irish Office. I shall be happy to furnish the hon. Member with a copy of the statement of the Chairman of the Committee as to the course which it is intended to pursue on that point.