§ SIR THOMAS ESMONDETo ask the Secretary to the Treasury if he will state the amount of the turnover of the account of the Paymaster-General in Dublin for the year ending March 31st, 1905; also the amounts invested on the same date by the Irish Land Commission, the Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction, and the Congested Districts Board, respectively, and the annual amount of interest resulting from the investments of these three Departments respectively; and the nature of the investments, whether in trustee securities or otherwise, made by these Departments; also the rate of deposit interest and the amount of it obtained for the previous twelve months up to March 31st, 1905, 348 by the Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction on its current balances; and whether these investments are subject to audit; and, if so, by whom; and what statement of those accounts is made, and by whom.
(Answered by Mr. Victor Cavendish.) The payments out of the accounts of the Paymaster-General in Dublin in the year ended March 31st, 1905, amounted to £5,243,004 3s. 8d. The investments held by the three Departments named on March 31st, 1905, were: Irish Land Commission (Church Temporalities Fund)—£1,284 4s. 9d. Guaranteed Land Stock; £35,000 Deposit Receipt in Bank of Ireland; total, £36,284 4s. 9d. The annual interest on these investments would amount to about £560; but the sum placed on deposit is constantly varying. The foregoing figures do not include the purchase moneys of estates awaiting distribution under the Land Purchase Acts, which are invested in trustee securities pending distribution. Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction:—£20,000 Consols; £70,837 15s. 11d. Guaranteed Land Stock; £250,000 Local Loans Stock; £70,000 Exchequer Bonds; total, £410,837 15s. 11d. These investments bear interest at the rate of £12,048 0s. 8d. a year. Congested Districts Board:—£14,225 Guaranteed Land Stock. This amount includes £5,000 permanently invested and yielding £137 10s. a year interest. The balance was temporarily invested. The dividends received on such temporary investments in 1904–5 amounted to £205 19s. 3d., besides which the Board received £40 as interest on moneys temporarily placed on deposit in the Bank of Ireland. All the investments mentioned above are in trustee securities. The Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruction, obtains interest on the amounts lodged on deposit in the Bank of Ireland at the bank deposit rate for the time being. The amount so received by the Department in the year ended March 31st, 1905, was £2,040 10s. 4d. The accounts and investments are all subject to audit by the Comptroller and Auditor-General. Statements are furnished in the annual Reports of the respective Departments, 349 and also in the accounts annually presented to Parliament with the Comptroller and Auditor - General's Reports thereon.