§ LORD G. BENTINCKwished to know whether the Chancellor of the Exchequer was in a condition to tell the House what was the present weekly expense of the staff for the management of the relief works in Ireland; and whether he could inform the House if the expense of the rations to the destitute poor amounted to 2½d each per day—because, when the question was put to him on Monday night by the right hon. Member for Dorchester (Sir J. Graham), he stated that he was unable to say whether the cost was 2d. or 2½d., or, in other words, whether the annual expense would be 8,000,000 or 6,500,000l.
§ The CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUERreplied, that the expense of the staff was in the course of rapid reduction. Ever since the month of March last, the expense of each week had been less than the expense of the preceding week; and it was therefore impossible to give a general answer as to the weekly expense, seeing that it was reduced from week to week. He was prepared to lay on the Table of the House what was the expense in any one week. He had received a report of the expense for the week ending 131 last Saturday; but he could not at that moment state what it was. With respect to the rations, what he had stated the other night was, that the maximum daily cost of each was 2½d. The cost varied in different parts of the country; in some places it was 1d., in some 1½d., in others 2d., and in some few particular cases 2½d.
§ LORD G. BENTINCKobserved, that up to the last return the House had always had an account of the expense of the staff each week. The last week of which they had a return, the aggregate amount of the cost of the staff was 14,900l. a week. There was surely no more reason why they should he kept in ignorance now of the total weekly account of the staff than heretofore. Then, again, with respect to the cost of the rations, the Chancellor of the Exchequer informed the House, that the number of persons receiving rations was 2,200,000. If the Chancellor of the Exchequer could not state what the exact cost of each ration was, could he state what the weekly cost of the whole was?
§ The CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUERasked, if his noble Friend meant to say that in the last return the weekly expense of the staff was omitted? [Lord G. BENTINCK: Yes.] Then that must entirely have been the result of mistake, and he should take care that it should be repaired. With respect to the rations, what he stated on Monday night was, that a certain amount of rations had been issued; he did not state the exact cost of each; but that, estimating them at 2½d., the amount that would be required up to a given day was 2,600,000l. He did not state that the cost was 2½d. each, because he did not know it.
§ LORD G. BENTINCKsaid, that the right hon. Gentleman told them that there were 2,200,000 rations daily being given out; and upon being asked what he estimated the cost at, he said 2½d. a day; and from that he made various calculations of what the total cost would be; and the result, so far as he (Lord G. Bentinck) was able to calculate, was that the cost of the rations and the cost of the public works together was going on still at the rate of 11,000,000l. a year.