DEPARTMENTAL REPORTS. - TRADE AND COMMERCE.
The DIRECTOR OF TRADE AND COMMERCE next presented his Report, which included reports on the work of the Commission of Inquiry into the Resources and Industries of Ireland. He thought it was a mistake originally to have set up a Commission with such a wide field of inquiry, and that the fact that it had not given better results was largely due to this cause. He did not know whether the Dáil should sanction going on with the Commission's Report on Water Power as it would require enormous expense and time to get out a really satisfactory and useful Report.
With regard to the Turf-Cutting Scheme mentioned in the Report of the Minister for Labour, the idea was that Local Bodies should be asked to form Committees which would tabulate particulars as to the number of labourers unemployed, the quantity of Turbary available in the district, an estimate of the money required to get the Scheme going and of the amount that could be raised in the locality. He had approached some members of the Irish White Cross Committee, and he thought they might be prepared to vote a sum up to £25,000 to assist in the initial stages.