§ MR. HAYDEN (Roscommon, S.)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury whether his attention has been drawn to the refusal of the Board of Works in Ireland, on the ground of their being unable under the present regulations, to make a loan to the Roscommon Board of Guardians for the construction of waterworks subject to the repayment by the board by equal annual instalments covering both principal and interest; and whether, if the present regulations render such a system of repayment of loans for such purposes impossible, he will consider the expediency of altering them so as to permit its adoption in cases 1199 in which the borrowing authority desire it, and in which it might be sanctioned without loss to the Treasury?
§ THE FINANCIAL SECRETARY TO THE TREASURY (Mr. R. W. HANBURY,) PrestonThe decision of the Board of Works was in accordance with a rule laid down by the Treasury. The requirement that loans of this class should be repaid by equal instalments of principal was adopted for the advantage, not only of the Local Loans Fund, but of the borrowers themselves, who, under that system, have to pay in the aggregate a much less sum for interest than they would have to pay under the alternative system of equal instalments, including both principal and interest.