§ MR. KNOXI beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury what was the total amount of instalments of local loans in Great Britain, falling due during the year 1896, which were not paid until they had been a month or more overdue, or which still remain unpaid; and whether any sum was exacted in any of those cases by way of receivers' fees?
§ MR. HANBURYThe Public Works Loan Board state that during the calendar year 1896 the amount overdue, but paid more than a month late, was £6,516, and there is a further amount of £6,286 still unpaid. There is no power to charge receivers' fees on the Board's loans. There is, of course, no loan corresponding to the Irish seed loans, where the locality does not bear the charge for interest, and has therefore no inducement to repay the loans.
§ MR. KNOXI beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury what was the total sum demanded during the year 1896 by way of receivers' fees on overdue instalments of local loans in Ireland; and what was the nature and cost of the services rendered in receiving these instalments?
§ MR. HANBURYThe Board of Works have not sent me, as they ought to have done, the figures for the year 1896, which is the period named in the Question. What I have are the figures for the financial year 1896–7 down to the 17th instant. The total amount collected as receivers' fees of 1s. in the pound during that period is £698 17s. 9d., representing arrears of about £14,000. The arrears cause an increase of the clerical and accounting work of the Department, and the cost is as a rule merged in the general cost of the Office, and cannot be stated separately. In the special case of the Suck Drainage, however, a local agent is employed in recovering the arrears, and is paid at a rate not excelling 5 per cent. on the sums collected.