§ MR. E. STRACHEY (Somerset, S.)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury, what was the total amount of Treasury Grant in aid of light railways and tramways in Ireland under the Acts of 1883, 1889, and 1893, during the financial year 1894–95; and, what was the total amount the Treasury had power to grant under these Acts?
§ SIR JOHN HIBBERTThe Acts of 1883, 1889, and 1893 authorise the Treasury to give assistance to light railways and tramways not exceeding a total sum of £65,000 per annum. Of this sum £30,722 is hypothecated to payments for which the Treasury has made itself liable in aid of guaranteed dividends, and on this account a sum of £21,240 was paid during the year 1894–5. The balance of the annuity of £65,000 is equivalent, when capitalised at 3 per cent., to £1,142,600, and the whole of this sum has been allocated to the lines mentioned at page 72 of the Civil Service Estimates of this year and to preliminary expenses and contingencies. The sum of £101,211 was paid on this account in the year 1894–5.