§ SIR THOMAS ESMONDE (Wexford, N.)I beg to ask Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer how much has been received as interest on the credit balances of the Irish Government Departments, and upon moneys placed on deposit by them, under the arrangements made by his predecessor up to the 31st March, 1907, and to what purposes has this interest been devoted; and if he will consider the question of utilising the interest received upon these moneys to assist the financing of the Land Purchase (Ireland) Act of 1903.
§ MR. RUNCIMAN (for Mr. ASQUITH)I am informed that the sums received at interest for the year ended the 31st March, 1907, on the balances of Government money on deposit account at the Bank of Ireland amounted to a total of £21,695. These interest payments were carried to credit of the various acounts on which they arose. A sum of £11,406, more than half the total, arose on the Separate Credits Account of the Irish Land Commission and was applied for the benefit of the separate estates concerned therein. The remainder 712 accrued to the Ireland Development Grant, the Local Taxation Account, and the accounts of the Department of Agriculture and other Departments in Ireland. It would not be possible to divert these receipts from the accounts to which they respectively belong and to apply them in financing Irish Land Purchase.