§ MR. KETTLE (Tyrone, E.)To ask Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer whether the official estimate of the number of persons in Ireland over seventy years of age in 1908 is 184,000; whether he is aware that the official estimate of the numbers of the same class of persons in 1907 was 173,359; whether the wide discrepancy between these two estimates casts doubt on the accuracy of both; and will he take steps to obtain a less speculative estimate.
(Answered by Mr. Birrell.) The estimated number of persons in Ireland of the age of seventy years and upwards in the middle of the year 1908 was 183,639. For the middle of 1907 the estimate was 183,876.