§ LORD GEORGE HAMILTONasked the First Lord of the Treasury, If, in the Return of the estimated receipts of the Irish Church Fund for the next fifty years, which has just been issued, he is satisfied that a sufficient deduction or allowance has been made for the reduction or postponement of rent, interest, and other income receivable by the Commissioners, and that the estimated assets of the Fund can be relied on as accurate and capable of realisation?
MR. GLADSTONESir, my estimate was a minimum of £1,500,000. I will lay on the Table a further Paper, which will, in effect, contain a better answer than could be given across the Table of the House. It will show the ground on which we have proceeded in our estimate, and I have every reason to believe that our calculations will prove
§ MR. MULHOLLANDasked the First Lord of the Treasury, Whether the thirty - seventh section of "The Irish Church Act, 1869," requires that the accounts of receipts and expenditure of the Irish Church Fund for each year shall be presented to Parliament within five months after the expiration of such year; and, if so, why the accounts for the year 1881 have not been so presented; and, whether he could inform the House on what day they will be laid upon the Table?
§ MR. COURTNEYSir, the hon. Member correctly states the directions of the 37 the section of the Irish Church Act. The Irish Land Commission, who have now charge of the Church property, asked the Treasury to change the end of the year of account from the 31st of December to the 31st of March, so that the Church Fund account might run to the same date as the other accounts 840 made up by the Land Commission; and the Treasury assented to the change. The Church account is, therefore, under this arrangement, not yet due.