§ MR. PIRIE (Aberdeenshire, N.)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury if he can state what is the sum collected annually as feu blench and teind duties in Scotland, and which used formerly to be paid to the Governors of Edinburgh and Stirling Castles and to the offices of Keeper of the Palace of Linlithgow and Castle of Blackness, specifying the amount for each of the places named; also since what date have these moneys been paid into the Imperial Exchequer; and what has been the average annual amount spent on the maintenance and upkeep of the buildings of the Palace of Linlithgow during the ten years 1889–98.
§ MR. HANBURYThe sums collected by the Commissioners of Woods as feu blench and teind duties in Scotland, which used formerly to be paid to the 985 Governors of Edinburgh and Stirling Castles and to the Keepers of the Palace of Linlithgow and Castle of Blackness, are approximately as follows:—Edinburgh Castle, £525; Stirling Castle, £157; Linlithgow Palace and Blackness Castle, £190. The Edinburgh Castle duties were first paid to the Commissioners of Woods for the year 1860, the Stirling Castle duties for the year 1847, and the Linlithgow and Blackness duties for the year 1853. Since those dates they have been paid over to the Imperial Exchequer. It is believed that prior to those dates they were received by the governors and keepers of the castles, etc. No figures can be given regarding the ordinary maintenance of the buildings of Linlithgow Palace as distinguished from that of the park. But in 1892–3 and the two subsequent years £761 17s. 8d. was expended on special repairs at the Palace.