§ MR. SLOANTo ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland if he can state by what sum, and at what rate per cent., the net amount of expenditure examined by the auditors of the Irish Local Government Board has increased or diminished from the amount in the financial year ending March 31st 1897, as compared with 1905, the net amount of expenditure being reckoned as the amount of expenditure which passed under the review of the auditors, excluding money passed to the accounts of other public bodies, and money transferred from one account of a public body to another account of the same public body and set against the expenditure shown and audited in the other account.
(Answered by Mr. Bryce.) The Local Government Board are not in a position to give the precise figures asked for having regard to the limited time given by the notice of this Question. The Board, however, estimate the increase in the net amount of expenditure audited to be over £1,500,000, or from 33 to 35 per cent.