§ MR. LLEWELLYN (Somerset, N.)I beg to ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer a question, of which I have given him private notice—namely, whether is a fact that the royalty on the Morgan Mine has been reduced from 50 one-thirtieth to one-hundreth; that the Government have withdrawn the Sheriff's officers from Mr. Pritchard Morgan's property, and have consented to allow the question of payment of costs to remain in abeyance pending the issue of the Report of the Royal Commission, and whether he has any information as to the alleged dismissal of men from Welsh gold mines?
§ MR. GOSCHENI have, as the result of communications which have passed between myself and the directors of the Morgan Mine, agreed that the royalty charged upon the product of the mine shall be at the rate of 100th until the Commission on Mining Royalties has reported. The ore which has recently been won at the Morgan Mine is of a low grade, and under the sliding scale which has been offered to the directors of the mine, but not accepted by them, would have been charged with royalty at the rate of 100th. I have made this concession, not because the sliding scale which was offered is inequitable, but to secure a modus vivendi until the whole question can be considered in the light of the Report of the Royal Commission. I have, at the request of several Members of the House, consented to postpone the execution upon Mr. Pritchard Morgan's goods; and, in order that this postponement might take place, he has signed a binding agreement undertaking to allow the Sheriff to re-enter under the same writs. I have agreed that this postponement shall be made, not until the Report of the Mining Royalties Commission is received, but to allow time in which the hon. Member may be persuaded to allow better counsels to prevail with him with reference to such payment. I understand that the workmen who have recently been dismissed from the Morgan Mine were not in Mr. Pritchard Morgan's employment, and their dismissal had, as I have been assured by a director, no connection with the steps taken by the Government to recover costs from Mr. Pritchard Morgan.
MR, A. O'CONNORMay I ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether the Treasury will be willing to extend to the gold mining industry in Ireland the same terms as those which have been granted to Wales?
§ MR. GOSCHENUnder the sliding scale, if there is any mine in Ireland where the hundredth part will secure the working of the mine, I shall be glad to grant the same terms.