§ MR. SWIFT MACNEILL (Donegal, S.)I beg to ask the First Lord of the Treasury whether he will explain why an Estimate of £100,000 has been placed on the Table of the House as the probable expense of the approaching Coronation, whereas the expense of the Coronation of William IV. only amounted to £45,000, and of Queen Victoria to £70,000; and whether, in accordance with the precedents on the occasions of the Coronations of George IV. and William IV., the assent of the House of Commons will be invited to this Estimate before the expense will be incurred.
(Answer.) The Estimate of £100,000 was based partly on the cost of Queen Victoria's Coronation, and partly on the expenses incurred on the occasion of the Jubilee of 1897. It is evident that the circumstances attending the present Coronation are widely different from those attending the last Coronation; the arrangements for the entertainment of foreign and colonial guests being on a totally different scale. The amounts provided for the Coronations of George IV. and of William IV. appear to have been voted before the actual ceremonies took place, but this was not the case in 1838. The precedent of Queen Victoria will be followed on the present occasion, as the hon. Member will have expected from my reply yesterday.