§ MR. VESEY KNOXI beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury whether his attention has been called to the terms of Section 12 of the Londonderry Improvement Act, 1896, which only enables the Treasury to charge for the additional cost, if any, in consequence of the municipal revision; will he explain why the Treasury certificate omits to state that there has been any additional cost; and whether he will reconsider the question, having regard to the fact that all persons locally engaged in the revision say there has been no additional cost whatever in consequence of the Act?
§ THE FINANCIAL SECRETARY TO THE TREASURYMy attention has been called to the terms of Section 12 of the Londonderry Improvement Act, 1896. The Treasury Certificate was as follows—
In conformity with the provisions of the 12th section of the Londonderry Improvement Act, 1896, we, being two of the Commissioners of Her Majesty's Treasury, hereby certify that the following payments have been made by us in respect of municipal revision, viz.—£33 12s. 0d. for the year 1896; £33 12s. 0d. for the year 1897.I think those words clearly enough convey that the amounts in question represented additional cost. As I have already explained to the hon. Member, the certificate was based upon information as to the additional cost furnished by "persons locally engaged in the revision." As giving some indication of the nature 1216 of the additional work entailed by the municipal revision, I may say that, after the close of the Parliamentary revision, the revising barristers are fully occupied for a whole day in checking and signing an exact copy of the Parliamentary Registry for the Corporation. Moreover, it is estimated that more than an additional day is taken up by the efforts of parties to get bad or doubtful votes proved in certain wards, though the claimants for these votes have admittedly good qualifications in other wards; the reason being that the balance of parties in the latter wards renders the votes of no value there for municipal purposes. For Parliamentary purposes the uncontested qualifications would, of course, be sufficient, and the struggle to establish the others would not take place.