§ MR. KILBRIDE (Kildare, S.)To ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether he can explain how the deductions of £8,464 12s. 9d. from Kildare County Council were apportioned between the Agricultural Grant, from which £5,507 4s. 6d. was withheld, and the Death Duty Grant, from which £2,957 8s. 3d. was with held; and how it arises that only four counties in Ireland 234 suffered by withdrawal of Agricultural Grant.
§ (Answered by Mr. Birrell.) The Death Duty Grant is the first portion and the Agricultural Grant the second portion of the Guarantee Fund from which deductions are made in respect of a county's liability for land purchase. The share of Kildare county in the instalment of the Death Duty Grant recently distributed amounted to £2,957 8s. 3d., and as this was not sufficient to discharge the county's liability the balance, namely, £5,507 4s. 6d., had to be taken from the Agricultural Grant. In four other counties the Death Duty Grant was likewise insufficient and the remainder had to be taken from the Agricultural Grant, but in all the remaining counties the Death Duty Grant was more than enough.