§ 29. Mr. GINNELLasked the Vice-President of the Department of Agriculture (Ireland) if he will state, for the period from the establishment of the Department to the 31st March, 1914, the total cost to the State of the Department as such, as distinguished from the preexisting institutions over which it has been given control; the total of the contributions made in the period by the Department towards technical schemes and other purposes in Westmeath; the total of the contributions made in the period by local bodies there towards those schemes and purposes; and the population and area of tillage in that county at the beginning and at the end of the period; and if he will explain the fact that the Mullingar cap factory, the only new industry founded there in the period, has never received any sort of assistance from the Department or the local technical committee?
§ Mr. T. W. RUSSELL (Vice-President of the Department of Agriculture, Ireland)With reference to the former portions of the question, I must refer the hon. Member to my previous reply given on the 13th instant. In regard to the Mullingar cap factory, the Department, in November, 1907, informed the County Westmeath Committee of Agriculture and Technical Instruction, that any proposals submitted for giving the managers of this factory the benefit of the provisions contained in the County Westmeath Technical Instruction scheme for the training of workers, would be considered by the Department. Since that date no further communication on the subject appears to have been received by the Department.