§ MR. KNOXI beg to ask the First Lord of the Treasury (1) what is the meaning of the phrase "local services" in the proposed reference to the proposed new Commission on Financial Relations, and whether it is the intention of the Government to indicate by the terms of reference that expenditure on e.g., the Irish Constabulary is not expenditure in which England and Scotland are interested, but that expenditure on all purposes outside of the United Kingdom is expenditure common to England, Scotland, and Ireland; (2) whether he will so alter the terms of reference as to enable the Commissioners to divide expenditure into three classes, that in which Ireland only is interested, that in which Great Britain only is interested, and that which is common to Great Britain and 517 Ireland; and, (3) whether, as to the third head of the reference, he proposes that the new Commission shall accept the conclusions arrived at by the previous Commission as to the taxation and taxable capacity of Great Britain and Ireland, or does he propose that the now Commission shall inquire again into those subjects?
§ THE FIRST LORD OF THE TREASURYThe questions raised in the first two paragraphs of the hon. Member's question are precisely those which it is intended the Commission shall include in their inquiry. As to the last paragraph of the question, it is left to the decision of the Commission whether they will accept the conclusions of the majority of the late Commission so far as they bear on the subject of the new inquiry, but as all the information that can be provided about the estimated taxation of Ireland and Great Britain was laid before the late Commission, it may be assumed that the new Commission will not find it necessary to go into that question again.
§ MR. J. J. CLANCY (Dublin County, N.)I beg to ask whether the terms of reference to the proposed new Commission on Financial Relations were intended to cover an inquiry into how much of the total expenditure which the State provides for purposes considered common to the United Kingdom is actually expended in England, Scotland, and Ireland respectively; and, if not, whether the proposed terms of reference will be so altered as to enable that point to be investigated by the proposed new Commission?
§ THE FIRST LORD OF THE TREASURYI know nothing in the terms of reference to the Commission which will preclude that inquiry in the event of their thinking that inquiry relevant.