§ SIR STAFFORD NORTHCOTEasked Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer, If ho will lay upon the Table an estimate of the gross amount of arrears of rent in Ireland proposed to be dealt with under 837 the Arrears of Rent (Ireland) Bill, and the amount proposed to be contributed from public funds; together with any Return or other information in the possession of the Government on which these estimates were framed?
THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER (Mr. GLADSTONE)Sir, in reply-to the Question of the right hon. Gentleman, I have to say that I think an estimate of the amount charged in the Arrears Bill, in the sense in which the term is commonly used, can hardly be given from the nature of the case; but we are doing our best to gather together the most useful and authentic illustrative information we can get in order to place hon. Members in possession of some facts as regards this subject. That information will be made known to the House before it goes into Committee on the Bill. The heads upon which we would either have information, or, at all events, do our best to form an opinion, are, in the first place, the total amount of valuation in Ireland of holdings under £30 per annum. Then there is the total amount of those holdings up to £30 valuation. A third point is the number of holdings, which are returned in the Poor Law Report at 585,000. As regards that, a large reduction will, I believe, have to be made, and we shall not have to deal with more than 350,000 possible subjects of the Arrears Clauses—possible, that is to say, if the rents have not been paid. Then as to a question of more difficulty, which we are endeavouring to examine into as well as we can—namely, as to the deduction to be made from the total valuation and the total rent corresponding with it on account of the difference in the number of holdings, that is a very difficult matter, and one on which I am afraid we can get nothing except the opinions of the best-informed persons. Besides this, we have got accounts from a considerable number of counties in Ireland, especially in Leinster and Connaught, showing, as a matter of fact, what proportion of estates have arrears upon them and what have not. Then, finally, we have such information as the Board of Inland Revenue can supply with regard to the amount of claim by the landlords in respect of unpaid rents. These are the heads of the matters which we are desirous of laying before the House 838 before it goes into Committee on the Arrears Bill.
MR. BRANDasked if care would be taken in the estimate to make allowance for the effect of Sub-section 3 of Clause 1 of the Bill?
MR. GLADSTONEOh, certainly, Sir; that is an important point, about which we shall endeavour to arrive at a sound judgment.