§ MR. COCHRANEI beg to ask the First Lord of the Treasury whether, in view of the fact that for the purposes of the Government of Ireland Bill of 1886, it was considered an equitable contribution for Ireland to pay £4,242,000 per annum towards the Imperial charges of the United Kingdom, and also, in view of his recent statement that in future he proposes that Ireland is only to pay a contribution estimated at £2,370,000 per annum, will Scotland be called upon to make up any part of the deficiency caused by the difference between these two sums?
§ MR. W. E. GLADSTONEIn my opinion, subjects of this kind are not conveniently raised by questions on the Paper, but they belong properly to discussions on the various stages of the Bill. It is especially unfortunate when questions of this kind are asked that they should be based upon figures which are entirely inaccurate. The errors into which the hon. Member has been betrayed are of a most serious character. He has forgotten that in the Bill of 1886 the sum of £1,400,000 was credited to the Irish Revenue which did not belong to it, and it also appears that he has overstated by £640,000 the amount of the contribution from Ireland.
§ MR. W. E. GLADSTONEIt appears to me that the hon. Member is not in a condition to say as yet there is a difference. He had better make a careful re-examination of the subject before he again ventures to ask the question.
§ MR. A. CROSSMay I, as a Scotch Member, say that there is no difference.