§ MR. SEXTONI beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland if he can now state the terms of Reference to the Royal Commission on the Financial Relations between Ireland and Great Britain; and when the Commission will be appointed?
MR. J. MORLEYThe terms of the Reference are as follows:—To inquire into the financial relations between Great Britain and Ireland and their relative taxable capacity; and to report—(1) Upon what principles of comparison, and by the application of what specific standards, the relative capacity of Great Britain and Ireland to bear taxation may be most equitably determined; (2) what, so far as can be ascertained, is the true proportion, so determined, between the taxable capacity of Great Britain and of Ireland; (3) the nature and course of the financial relations between Great Britain and Ireland at and after the legislative Union, the charge for Irish purposes on the Imperial Exchequer under the existing system, and the interests of Ireland in any particular item or class of Imperial expenditure.