THE EARL OF MAYOMy Lords, I rise to ask His Majesty's Government whether the Return as to loans contracted by local authorities in Ireland, etc., ordered to be laid before the House on the 21st July last has yet been furnished. I am told that the Return is likely to be laid upon the Table in dummy to-morrow, but we do not want it in dummy; we want the real thing. There is a Bill shortly to come before your Lordships' House dealing with the housing of the working-classes in Ireland, and it is most important that this Return should be laid on the Table before that discussion is taken. I am told, also, that the delay is due to the printers in Ireland. This is not the first time that we have had to complain of that sort of thing. The Return was ordered to be laid before the House on 21st July, and surely plenty of time has elapsed to enable a Return of that sort to be printed. I see the noble Lord, Lord Denman, in his place, and I should like to ask if there is any chance of our having the Return before the Bill to which I have referred comes up for consideration in Committee.
LORD DENMANThe noble Earl has been misinformed with regard to the Return in question. It was laid of the Table on Friday, and was sent to Ireland to be printed on that day. I cannot tell the noble Earl when we shall get the Return back from the printers—that really is not my business—but I hope it will be here to-morrow. It was an extremely complicated Return, and I can assure the noble Earl that no time was lost in its preparation. In case the Return is not back from the printers in time, I would suggest that the noble Earl or any other Peer interested should call at the Irish Office and look at the copy, of which they can make any use they wish in the discussion on the Housing Bill.
§ House adjourned at Six o'clock, till To-morrow, a quarter past Four 'clock