§ MR. VESEY KNOX (Londonderry)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury, on what principle the amount of the Irish equivalent grant of £40,000 (the distribution of which is regulated by the Land Purchase Act, 1891) was arrived at; what were the amounts of the local licences, the proceeds of which were handed over to the counties in England, for the year 1888–9 and the year 1895–6 respectively; and, what was the amount of the local grants in England withdrawn in 1888?
§ MR. HANBURYThe equivalent grant of £40,000 to Ireland was calculated on the basis of 9–91ths of the gain to Great Britain resulting from the substitution of the licences for the old grants in aid. No proceeds of these licences were handed over to the counties in England in the year 1888–89. The figures for 1895–96 cannot yet be accurately stated. Their yield in intermediate years is given in the finance accounts for those years. House of Commons Paper C 5,344, which was presented to Parliament when the Local Government Bill of 1888 was introduced, shows that the grants to be withdrawn in England amounted to £2,582,434, as against £2,969,873 yielded by the licences.