§ MR. J. P. FARRELL (Cavan, W.)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury, with regard to the capitalisation of the shares of the Cavan, Leitrim, and Roscommon Light Railway, whether, as the ratepayers of Cavan have been as heavily taxed in the past as the ratepayers of Leitrim and Roscommon, the 549 Treasury will reconsider their intentions on this matter, and give them the full benefit of the Act as the Legislature intended them to get?
§ MR. HANBURYIt is the guarantee of the Government, not the Shares of the Company, which I think the hon. Member intends to refer to in this Question. The Cavan, Leitrim, and Roscommon Light Railway consists of two undertakings. The part of it in County Cavan receives a Government guarantee of 2 per cent. on £47,000 and that in County Leitrim a similar guarantee on £153,200. Under the Tramways Act of 1895, as I explained in reply to a Question put by the hon. Member on the 30th April, these guarantees may be redeemed by payment of a capital sum not exceeding 33⅓ times the estimated annual amount of the Treasury's liability. In the County Leitrim portion there is no prospect of the maximum liability of 2 per cent. on £153,200 being reduced by any net receipts, and so the capital sum is put at 33⅓ years purchase of £3,064 (which represents 2 per cent. on £153,200). But in the County Cavan portion there is a certain prospect of net receipts, which has been estimated at £50 a year, and so the capital sum is put at 33⅓ years' purchase, not of £940 (which represents 2 per cent. on £47,000), but of £940 minus £50—namely, £890. In either case the hon. Member will see that the Cesspayers have received the full benefit of the Act.