§ Mr. FIELDasked the Chief Secretary whether he will arrange with the Department of Agriculture to have the cloth-testing plant now lying idle in the Royal Irish Constabulary depot transferred to the Linen Hall Barracks; whether those premises are now unused by the Board of Works; whether he is aware that if this arrangement is carried out the plant could be utilised for testing purposes by the military authorities in Ireland, the General Prisons Board, the Post Office, the Dublin metropolitan police, and any other Government Department requiring its service; and whether he is aware that a linen testing plant has been recently established in Belfast?
§ Mr. BIRRELLThe Department of Agriculture cannot legally expend any portion of their funds in connection with a cloth-testing plant. The machines for testing cloth at the Royal Irish Constabulary Depot are in constant use, and are not available for use by other Departments. Part of the Linen Hall Barracks is occupied by Government offices, and t he Board of Works have before them proposals for the letting of another portion. I understand that a textile testing and conditioning house was opened some months ago in a space lent for the purpose in the Belfast Municipal Technical Institute, but the undertaking receives no aid from public funds.