§ MR. HAYDENI beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, whether, in estimating the amount of the Agricultural Grant for the County Roscommon, the Local Government Board took into account the special circumstances brought under its notice by the grand jury of that county in regard to the county cess in the standard year; whether the Suck drainage tax has been treated as an excluded charge, and, if so, under what authority this has been done; whether credit has been given to the county for the county cess relating to the portions of Galway and Mayo added to the administrative County of Roscommon; 1353 and whether he will instruct the Local Government Board to supply the County Council with the facts and figures upon which the calculation was based.
§ MR. G. W. BALFOURThe answer to each of the inquiries in the first paragraph is in the affirmative. The amount deducted under the provision with respect to excluded charges from the Agricultural Grant to Roscommon in respect of the Suck drainage charges was about £100. The Commissioner of Valuation is of opinion that the Suck Drainage Act of 1889, under which these charges arise, comes within the description given in the latter part of Section 57, Sub-section 6 (1) of the Local Government Act of last year. With regard to the second paragraph, I propose, as already stated, to lay on the Table of the House a general memorandum explaining the methods adopted in order to arrive at the basis on which the amounts of the Grant have been calculated.