§ MR. B. C. MOLLOY (King's County, Birr)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Local Government Board what is the total rate on the valuation to which the grants-in-aid to English boroughs amounted on the last financial year for which figures are available, (a) including and (b) not including the grants under the Local Government Act, 1888?
§ THE PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY TO THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT BOARD (Mr. T. W. RUSSELL,) Tyrone, S.The grants-in-aid to English boroughs in the last financial year for which figures are available were equal to a rate in the £ of 7s. 2d. including the grants under the Local Government Act, 1888, and excluding those grants the average rate was 1s. 4d. in the £. These sums do not include grants under the Agricultural Rates Act, payable in 1897–8. If the sums paid under that Act to the boroughs in the year had been distributed equally on the basis of the total rateable value of the boroughs receiving the grants, the rate on the valuations in force would have been about 1d. in the £.