Why did they do that?

In 1907 the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed an Act to Repeal the Law [the Tobacco Cultivation Act of 1831] which prohibited the growing of tobacco in Ireland, & another to regulate Whale Fisheries in Scotland.

I wonder why? What problems were they designed to address? Who had been lobbying for them? Did they have the desired effects?

Was there a well-established Scottish whaling industry, one which was beginning to suffer very unhealthy competition between crews fighting over depleted stocks?

Was the growing of tobacco ever forbidden in other parts of the UK? * If not, why not? Did anyone seriously expect that tobacco could be grown on a commercial scale in rainy Ireland?

Well a little Googling might soon provide the answers – or I might find myself diverted into spending a lot of time, led to surprising revelations about the past. So I must regretfully leave those questions hanging in the air, at least for now

*Yes. A law of 1782 which forbade the cultivation of tobacco in Scotland was repealed in 1908.