§ CAPTAIN DONELANOn behalf of the hon. Member for South Donegal, I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether, having regard to the intention of the Government to cut off £250,000 a year from the present Treasury expenditure upon the civil establishment of Ireland, provision will be made that the saving so effected shall, in accordance with the precedent in the provisions of the Supreme Court of Judicature (Ireland) 474 Act of 1897, when coming from money payable out of the Consolidated Fund continue to be paid out of that fund, and when coming from money provided by Parliament through the several Estimates shall continue to be paid out of money so provided, and shall in either case be carried by the Treasury to a separate account, to be applied to such Irish purposes as Parliament may from time to time direct.
§ MR. ATKINSONThis matter was fully explained by my right hon. friend when introducing the Land Bill on the 25th March. He then stated that the charge proposed to be placed in any one year upon the Estimates in respect to the Land Purchase Aid Fund would not exceed £390,000, and that a portion of this charge would be recouped by economies in civil expenditure amounting to the sum mentioned in the Question. The answer is, therefore, in the negative.