§ MR. KETTLETo ask Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer whether the system of registration of births in Ireland is of 1634 much more recent origin than the corresponding system in Great Britain; whether, consequently, the materials available for forming an estimate of the numbers of the population over seventy years of age are much less adequate in Ireland than in great Britain; and whether the figure, 184,000, is in fact anything more than a rough approximation founded largely on guess-work.
(Answered by Mr. Birrell.) The system of registration of births in Ireland is of much more recent origin than the corresponding system in Great Britain, but this fact has no relation to the question of estimating the number of persons of the age of seventy years and upwards at the present time. The figure 183,639, or in round numbers 184,000, is not a guess but a fairly approximate estimate, obtained by applying the percentage of males and females, aged seventy years and upwards, as ascertained at the census of 1901, to the estimated total number of males and females in the middle of the year 1908.