§ It is estimated that from this amount there will be available for the Sinking Fund during the year £6,600,000, as compared with £5,750,000 last year; but as we receive the payments on account of the war from the Transvaal the amount available for the purpose will be largely increased, and at the end of five years it will be nearly £9,000,000, or 1.25 per cent. of the entire debt. Let us see how this compares with former years. On March 31st, 1875, the debt was £769,000,000, and the Sinking Fund portion of the debt charge in 1875–76 was £4,092,221, or .53 per cent. of the debt. On March 31st, 1887, the debt was £736,000,000, and the Sinking Fund in 1887–88 was £4,963,000, or .67 per cent. On March 31st, 1889, the debt was £698,000,000, and the Sinking Fund in 1889–90 was £5,100,000, or .73 per cent. On March 31st, 1899, the debt was £627,000,000, and the Sinking Fund in 1899–1900 was £5,800,000, or 7.92 per cent. On March 31st last the debt was £770,778,000, and the Sinking Fund will be £6,600,000, or .85 per cent. On March 31st, 1908, we calculate that the debt will be £694,000,000, and the Sinking Fund £8,841,000, or 17.25 per cent., the largest amount, both absolutely and proportionately, which has ever been applied. It must be borne in mind that the Sinking Fund will be much more operative, with Consols at or below par, than it has been for some time past. I believe I am not taking too sanguine a view of the operation of the Fund when I say that, if the debt is not added to, and if the annual charge is maintained at the proposed amount, the whole of this gigantic debt can be wiped out within fifty years from now. That is a startling proposition, but I believe it to be none the less true.
247§ MR. WILLIAM REDMOND (Clare, E.)You will have some more wars before then.