§ SIR FREDERICK W. HEYGATEsaid, he would beg to ask the First Lord of the Treasury, Whether, in considering the application of the surplus funds hereafter to accrue from the Irish Church, 156 regard will be had to the locality from which such surplus is derived?
MR. GLADSTONEI am afraid, Sir, the Question of the hon. Baronet is somewhat premature; I do not mean in his assuming that the Irish Church Bill will pass, but I mean it is premature because the hon. Baronet must be aware that the financial operations under the Bill are of a very complex character, and that it will be very difficult indeed to say how far any particular portion of the surplus will bear a local character. The object of the Government, in all that they have said and done, has been to insure the general distribution of this surplus all over Ireland; but I think I may say that where it does bear a very distinctly local character, it will be desirable that that should, in some degree, be recognized. Upon the whole, however, I think my answer must be that an equable distribution over Ireland will be the best mode of applying the surplus.