§ MR. FIELDTo ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that a fund known as the Unclaimed Dividend Fund exists in connection with the Court of Bank ruptcy, Ireland; whether he can state its amount at present, and whether this money is invested in public funds; and whether he will consider the advisability of utilising this money to provide a building fund for the erection of suitable technical schools in Ireland, to be repaid by annual instalments.
(Answered by Mr. Austen Chamberlain.) The application of the Unclaimed Dividends in Bankruptcy (Ireland) is regulated by Section 85 of the Act 40 and 41 Vic., c. 57. The money is from time to time applied in purchase of Government securities which are thereupon cancelled. The sum of £5,188 8s. 9½d. is now standing to the credit of the account, and will in due course be disposed of as the Act directs. There is no power to utilise it for any other purpose.