§ MR. JASPER TULLY (Leitrim, S.)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury—(1) whether he can state if the Grand Juries of Leitrim and Cavan have entered into negotiations with the Treasury for the purpose of capitalising the grant to the Cavan and Leitrim Light Railway under the Tramways and Public Companies (Ireland) Act, 1895; and (2) whether he can indicate what are the obstacles raised by the Treasury to the Grand Juries of these counties taking advantage of this Act, and thus reducing the high county cess on the impoverished cesspayers in the guaranteeing areas of these counties?
§ MR. HANBURYThe implication in the second paragraph of this question is not warranted by the facts. The Act says that the Treasury may redeem their liability to the Grand Jury in respect of the guaranteed dividend on the share capital of the Company by payment of a capital sum not exceeding 33⅓ times the estimated annual amount of such liability. This estimated annual amount is, roughly speaking, the maximum annual liability minus the Treasury's prospect of net receipts under the present system; and the hon. Member will see, if he refers to the Debate on the Act when in Committee, that the amount of this deduction is to be a matter of arrangement between the Grand Jury as representing the cesspayer and the Government as representing the taxpayer. The Cavan 210 and Leitrim Railway have two undertakings guaranteed by the Government. On the smaller of the two, the Treasury has a prospect of certain net receipts, and, therefore, the estimated liability will be something less than the maximum. There is no such prospect, I understand, with regard to the larger undertaking, and, as that is the case, the Treasury's estimated liability in respect of it coincides with the maximum. If the hon. Member is now able to explain what he means by "the obstacles raised by the Treasury," perhaps he will communicate with me in writing, as I am not aware of any.