§ MR. FFRENCH (Wexford, S.)I beg to ask the Vice-President of the Department of Agriculture (Ireland) if the latest potato disease in Great Britain, known as the black scab, has made its appearance in many places; if it has made its appearance at all in Ireland; and if the Irish Board of Agriculture are taking any steps to prevent its importation.
§ THE VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOR IRELAND (Mr. T. W. RUSSELL,) Tyrone, S.The Department have for a considerable time been on the look out for this disease, but fortunately so far no evidence of its presence in Ireland has been discovered. Fearing its importation from Great Britain with seed supplied under the Seed Loan Scheme this year, the Department sent to the Local Government Board for Ireland a printed description and illustrations of the disease with a request that the same should be furnished to the Seed Inspectors and that those officers should be asked to examine carefully imported seed for the disease. This the Local Government Board have done, 325 and no cases of the disease have so far been reported.