§ MR. FIELDTo ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that according to 10 George 4, c. 50, s. 108, the Irish Crown and quit rents should not lie merged in British taxation, but should be applied in taking up charges or purchasing other lands for the Crown; whether he can state what amount of Irish Crown and quit rents has been applied to paying off charges upon London parks; and whether he will take measures to recover this expenditure, and consider the advisability of 634 applying the accumulated revenue arising from Irish Crown and quit rents to the purchase of suitable waste mountain or bog areas in Ireland for the purpose of reafforestation, and to be worked as State or Crown forests.
(Answered by Mr. McKenna.) The statutory authority quoted by the hon. Member refers only to moneys arising from the sale or exchange of Crown lands, etc., including quit, etc., rents in Ireland, and directs that these shall be applied in purchasing other lands for the Crown in the United Kingdom, or in redemption of charges or incumbrances on Crown lands. The moneys referred to, which are carried to the capital account of the Commissioners of Woods, have been applied accordingly, including £13,320 recently expended in buying land adjoining Phœnix Park. The London parks are under the management of the Commissioners of Works, whose department was separated from that of the Commissioners of Woods in 1851. The expenditure of the Commissioners of Works is voted by Parliament and is not paid out of the land revenues of the Crown, and it is not correct to say that any moneys received from the sale of Irish quit rents have been applied in paying off charges on those parks. As regards annual revenue from quit rents, the surplus is paid into the Exchequer each year and there is no accumulation thereof. The question of purchasing suitable waste areas in Ireland for reafforestation is one which must be dealt with on its merits, apart from any question connected with quit rents.