§ MR. FETHERSTONHAUGHTo ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland when the Irish Constabulary Force Fund will be wound up and the assets, outside any Government contribution, distributed amongst those whose subscriptions produced them; and has he considered the statement 1223 prepared by the constabulary pensioners of Fermanagh, and adopted at their meeting on 30th October, 1906, and the reasons therein set out for the prompt winding-up of this fund.
(Answered by Mr. Bryce.) I beg to refer to my replies to the Questions of the hon. Member for South Sligo on the 19th instant and to the hon. Member for East Wicklow on the 22nd instant,† in which the present position in respect of the winding-up of the Constabulary Force Fund is fully stated. If the hon. Member will refer to Parliamentary Paper No. 118 of 1891 he will see that the subscribers have no interest in or claim upon the capital of the fund, seeing that when existing liabilities have been discharged any balance that may remain will be surrendered to the Exchequer. It was upon that condition that a grant from the Exchequer of £150,000 was made in 1891. There are still over 7,000 subscribers to the fund, and until these have disappeared it does not appear to be possible to say what the assets of the fund will eventually be. I have received the statement prepared by the constabulary pensioners of Fermanagh.