§ MR. WILLIAM CORBET (Wicklow, E.)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury whether he is aware that an application has been made for a free grant of £30,000 for Wicklow Harbour, and whether he will ask for that sum in the Irish Estimates?
§ * THE SECRETARY TO THE TREASURY (Mr. R. W. HANBURY,) PrestonBesides incurring considerable expense in employing Sir Alexander Rendel to examine the harbour, the Treasury have offered to cancel the outstanding unguaranteed loan of about £9,000, together with interest accrued since 1881, to reduce the interest on the guaranteed loan of £40,000 from 4¼ per cent, to 4 per cent., and to advance a new loan of £35,000, if the local Baronies and the Town of Wicklow will on their side guarantee its repayment. I understand that the charge which the Baronies and Town would thereby incur could be met by a rate of 2½d. in the £ annually, and that their average rating at present is only about 3s. 6d. in the £. As the Harbour is mainly kept up in the interests of the locality, the local authorities may fairly be expected to undertake this very small liability. In fact their reluctance to do so would seem to imply that in their opinion the harbour is unnecessary. I agree with my predecessor in the view that, in these circumstances, the Treasury would not be justified in making a free grant.