§
*MR. HANBURY
The amount of fees imposed and recovered by the Board of Works under Section 6 of the Public Works Loans Act, 1892, was:—
| Year. |
Fees. |
|
£ |
s. |
d. |
| 1892–3 |
|
14 |
9 |
| 1893–4 |
40 |
8 |
5 |
| 1894–5 |
121 |
12 |
1 |
| 1895–6 |
195 |
16 |
4 |
| 1896–7 |
712 |
17 |
5 |
These figures of course can only refer to loans granted after the passing of the Act. The numbers of half-yearly instalments recovered in each of the same years were respectively:—
|
£ |
| 1892–3 |
49,882 |
| 1893–4 |
51,364 |
| 1894–5 |
53,638 |
| 1895–6 |
59,564 |
| 1896–7 |
62,000 approximately, |
(the number of loans being in each case half the number of the instalments). And the total amounts so recovered were—
|
£ |
| 1892–3 |
733,044 |
| 1893–4 |
707,245 |
| 1894–5 |
783,374 |
| 1895–6 |
764,732 |
| 1896–7 |
757,883 |
These figures, however, include loans granted before, as well as those granted after, the passing of the Act. To separate the two would take very great time and trouble, but the total amounts recovered in respect of loans granted after the passing of the Act are roughly estimated to be as follows:—
|
£ |
| 1892–3 |
1,000 |
| 1893–4 |
23,000 |
| 1894–5 |
50,000 |
| 1895–6 |
76,000 |
| 1896–7 |
132,000 |
367
In the latter year, as I have already stated, the amount of Fees imposed under the Act was £712 17s. 5d. The Fee being one shilling on every pound more than a month in arrear, this amount represents arrears of more than £14,300 out of a total of £132,000 recovered, or considerably over 10%. The large increase of the amounts received from £76,000 in 1895–6 to £132,000 in 1896–7 is due to the Seed Loans of 1895, amounting to about £65,000, repayable in two years; and as I have already explained in reply to previous Questions, interest on these loans is payable not by the localities but out of the Irish Church Fund, so if the Fees were not enforced, there would be little inducement to the localities to repay the loans.