§ MR. P. A. McHUGH (Sligo, N.)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury whether he can state in detail the calculations from which the sum of £1,506 19s. 7d., deducted in respect of land purchase from grants payable to the county council of Sligo, was arrived at, also the calculations on which the sum of £66 17s. 5d. was directly deducted from the share of the Sligo urban district, and the sum of £79 from the share of the guardians of Sligo union; will full particulars of all deductions from grants be furnished to all public bodies concerned; is he aware that Sligo borough is one of the corporate towns in Ireland in which the rating powers of the municipal councils are limited by local Acts; and can he state the amount of the deductions in the other corporate towns similarly situated.
I beg also to ask the Secretary to the Treasury, in regard to the £70,996 deducted in respect of land purchase transactions from grants to public bodies in Ireland, how much of that sum has been deducted in the case of each of the county boroughs Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Waterford, Belfast, and Londonderry, and how much in the case of each of the non-county boroughs Kilkenny, Drogheda, Wexford, Clonmel, and Sligo.
I beg further to ask the Secretary to the Treasury whether the sums of £66 17s. 5d. and £79, deducted from the grants payable to the Sligo Corporation and to the Sligo board of guardians in respect of the urban district respectively, are included in the sum of £1,506 deducted from the grants payable to Sligo county council; whether the borough of Sligo, being under its local 707 Act responsible for a portion of the county-at-large charges, is bound to make good its portion of this £1,506; whether the average yearly contribution to the Corporation of Sligo from the Local Taxation Account was, for the five years ended 31st March, 1906, only £170; and can he say how much of the Local Taxation Grant will be payable to the corporation for the year 1906–7 after deducting the sums chargeable against it for losses in connection with land purchase.
§ THE CHIEF SECRETARY FOR IRELAND (Mr. BIRRELL,) Bristol, N.My hon. friend has asked me to answer this and the two following Questions. The answers are necessarily of considerable length and include tabular statements. It would be more convenient to circulate printed answers with the Votes, and with the hon. Member's permission I will adopt that course.