§ MR.EDAVAED BARRY (Cork County, S.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether he has received resolutions recently passed at meetings in South Cork in favour of local railway extension, and dealing with the fishing industry in Glandore Union Hall and other southern districts; whether his attention has been called to the practically undeveloped resources of the Benduff slate quarry for want of railway connection; and whether, seeing that Rosscarbery is the most important town in the South of Ireland without such connection, he will make inquiries as to how far the undeveloped resources of the district, as regards fish and minerals, would be promoted by railway extension from Clonakilty to Rosscarbery and thence to Glandore.
§ MR. CHERRYI have received the resolutions referred to. I am informed that Glandore is a good fishing harbour, but Rosscarbery is not so good; and if Glandore Harbour were to be brought into connection with the Cork, Bandon, and South Coast Railway the question would arise whether connection should not be made with the main line at or near Skibbereen rather than with the light railway at Clonakilty. As regards the 660 slate quarrying industry in the Rosscarbery district, it is understood by the Department of Agriculture that there is at present a depression in the slate quarrying trade throughout the United Kingdom, partly due, it is supposed, to the condition of the building trade; and it may be doubted whether the proposed railway extension would place these quarries in a position to compete successively with other slate producing areas. The subject of railway extension will be duly considered should there be a prospect of obtaining funds for the purpose.