§ CAPTAIN SINCLAIR (Forfar)On behalf of the honourable Member for West Renfrew, I beg to ask the Lord Advocate whether, by the Local Taxation Account (Scotland) Bill, introduced on the 27th instant, it is proposed to provide that the residue grant, under the Local Taxation (Customs and Excise) Act, 1890, shall in future be distributed on the basis of valuation and population instead of on valuation alone, as provided by that Act; and whether he can state what the proportion of the residue grant paid to burghs and police burghs and to counties respectively was in the last year for which Returns are available; and what the respective proportions for the same year would have been had they been calculated on a basis of valuation and population?
§ THE LORD ADVOCATE (Mr. GRAHAM MURRAY,) ButeshireUnder the Bill the residue grant would in future be distributed on the basis of valuation and population. In reply to the second paragraph I am informed that the figures stand thus:—Residue grant, 1897–98, as allocated on basis of valuation: Counties, £25,896; burghs, £27,432; police burghs, £5,419; total, £58,747. Allo- 447 cated on basis of valuation and population combined: Counties, £23,816; burghs, £28,330; police burghs, £6,601; total, £58,747.