§ MR. LOUGHI beg to ask the First Lord of the Treasury whether £90,600 has been realised by the sale of quit and Crown rents in Ireland between the years 1891 and 1897, and since 1864 nearly a quarter of million has been obtained from this source: and whether these moneys are being used for the purchase of estates in Great Britain; if so, whether the Government would be prepared to appropriate a portion of this Irish fund, which is being withdrawn from Ireland at the rate of about £12,000 a year, for the purchase of the Muckross demesne at Killarney as a national park.
§ MR. A. J. BALFOURThe hon. Gentleman's statement of figures is, I believe, quite correct: but I do not think it is a matter which could be made a question as between the expenditure of Imperial money in Ireland and the expenditure of Imperial money in England. None of the money which has come from the sources referred to by the hon. Gentleman has been expended in England upon public parks, nor has any public money ever been expended, so far as I know, on public parks outside the metropolitan area. The policy of purchasing a public park so far from any great centre of population, and of a character which would probably produce very little value to the public 1502 during many of the winter months of the year, is very doubtful indeed.
§ MR. SWIFT MAcNEILL (Donegal, S.)Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that a portion of the money referred to has been spent on the stabling of Royal parks?
§ MR. A. J. BALFOURNo, Sir, I am not aware of that, but it may be true, and I will make inquiries.