§ MR. WILLIAM ABRAHAM (Cork County, N.E.)To ask Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer whether the Treasury have made any estimate of the large balances that will periodically lie in the hands of the Bank of Ireland under the operation of The Irish Land Purchase Act, 1903; and whether it is proposed to require that bank to pay interest upon the same.
(Answered by Mr. Austen Chamberlain.) No estimate has been made of any such balances, if there are any, or could be made, until more experience has beer-gained of the working of the Act. It 497 therefore seems premature to contemplate making any special arrangements with the Bank of Ireland.