HC Deb 11 March 1903 vol 119 cc386-7
MR. JAMES O'CONNOR (Wicklow, W.)

I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that the valuation of Rathmines, county Dublin, was in 1851, £39,728, and the police rate 8d. in the pound; that in 1902 the valuation of Rathmines, including Rathgar and Miltown, was £160,000, and the police rate 8d. in the pound; and will he say whether the police force of the township has been augmented, and to what extent; whether the increase has absorbed the rate levied upon £160,000; and, if not, what is the surplus, and to what fund has it been credited.

MR. WYNDHAM

The earliest valuation of Rathmines and Rathgar, of which there is any official record, is for the year 1868, when it was £75,033. In 1902 it was £156,672. The police rate in 1851 was 7d. in the pound, and 8d. last year. The strength of the police force allotted to the township in 1851 cannot be ascertained. It is believed, however, there has been no material change in the force within the period mentioned. No separate account is kept by the Commissioner of Police showing the revenue from police tax in the contributory townships.

MR. JAMES O'CONNOR

What is the necessity for charging four times more than was charged thirty years ago?

MR. WYNDHAM'S

answer was inaudible.