§ MR. PATRICK WHITEI beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury what was the total amount of payments made to the Local Taxation (Ireland) Account out of the Consolidated Fund or out of any revenue for the years 1901–2, 1903, 1904, and 1905 respectively; and for what Departments and under what Acts they were made.
§ MR. RUNCIMANThe total payments, partly from the Consolidated Fund and partly from assigned Revenues, in the respective years were: 1901–2, £1,445,403; 1902–3, £1,441,079; 1903–4, £1,435,374; 1904–5, £1,432,918. Some of the grants included in these totals are not paid direct into the Local Taxation (Ireland) Account. They are paid in the first instance to the Guarantee Fund under the Land Purchase Acts and are subsequently transferred to the Local Taxation Account after the claims on that Fund have been met. The Acts of Parliament governing the payments are the Customs and Inland Revenue Act, 1890; the Land Purchase (Ireland) Act, 1891; the Finance Act, 1894; and the Local Government (Ireland)Act, 1898. The application of moneys out of the Local Taxation Account is not under the control of the Treasury, but of the Irish Government.