HC Deb 18 June 1903 vol 123 cc1315-6
MR. O'DOHERTY (Donegal, N.)

I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury whether he will explain why the application of the Londonderry County Borough Council to the Treasury, through the Commissioners of Public Works in Ireland, for the sum of £35,000 for the purpose of an installation of private electric lighting in the county borough, was refused, seeing that an application for a larger sum for a like purpose was made by the City of Dublin County Borough Council, and was granted by the Treasury.

THE FINANCIAL SECRETARY TO THE TREASURY (Mr. ELLIOT,) Durham

It has been the recent policy of the Treasury, owing to their heavy borrowing requirements, to restrict Government loans to cases in which the borrower has either no power to borrow by issuing stock or cannot do so on moderate terms in the particular case. The application from the Londonderry County Borough Council did not fall within this category, and was therefore refused. The excep- tion in the case of Dublin was only made for special reasons urged upon the Treasury by the Irish Government, which were not present in the case of the Londonderry application.