HC Deb 07 July 1908 vol 191 cc1472-4
MR. J. MACVEAGH (Down, S.)

I beg to ask Mr. Attorney-General for Ireland whether he can say what proportion of the funds under the control of the different Irish Courts have been invested by the authorities of the Courts; whether the accruing dividends on investments are re-invested or are allowed to accumulate; and what proportion is allowed to accumulate.

THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL FOR IRELAND (Mr. CHERRY, Liverpool, Exchange)

I am informed that it is not practicable to differentiate between the funds in the hands of the Accountant-General which were already invested at at the time of their transfer into Court, and those which were invested under Orders of the Court subsequent to their transfer into Court. Unless otherwise directed, cash lodgments of £50 and upwards in the Chancery Division are, after the expiration of six months from the date of lodgment, invested in New Consols without order or request. Dividends are re-invested as follows: (1) In the case of funds lodged under any of the Trustee Acts, when the amount of the dividends available reaches the sum of £10; (2) in cases in which there is an order to invest, when the amount of such dividends reaches £20; and (3) in all other cases when the amount reaches £50.

MR. J. MACVEAGH

I beg to ask Mr. Attorney-General for Ireland whether he can state the total value of cash and securities held, or banked by, or in the names of the Chancery and Common Law Divisions, land judges, and suitors' cash; how much of this total represents capital and how much represents dividends; how much of this total has been dormant for fifteen years or more; and whether the dormant total is regarded as the unclaimed total.

MR. CHERRY

The totals of the liabilities and of the assets in respect of the cash and securities constituting the funds of suitors in the Supreme Court in Ireland, as they stood on 30th September last, are set out in the account of the Accountant-General of the Supreme Court which has been published in a Return to an Order of the House of Commons, dated 30th January last. (Parliamentary Paper No. 22 of the present session). It would be impossible in most cases to state how much of these funds represents dividends and how much principal, as the dividends become merged in the principal, on investment, and when each subsequent sale or transfer of any portion of the fund has taken place such sale or transfer has been made out of the accumulated fund as it stood at the time being. The amount of the funds standing to the credit of the dormant accounts on 30th September last, as undealt with during the previous fifteen years, was; Cash, £174,694 11s. 9d.; New Consols, £204,790 17s. 11d. Other than these there are no unclaimed totals; and in respect of these totals claims for principal and interest are being frequently made and sustained, and when sustained such portion of the funds as may be required to meet each claim is paid out.

MR. J. MACVEAGH

I beg to ask Mr. Attorney-General for Ireland whether he can say if the Court of Chancery in Ireland holds any boxes of plate or valuables; and, if so, how many, and how long they have been in the possession of the Court.

MR. CHERRY

I am informed that there are thirty-eight boxes of plate or other valuables which have been lodged in Court, and stand to the credit of the accounts to which they belong. They have been for the most part lodged in minor and lunacy cases, and the accounts to which they stand are current and according to the circumstances of each case will be dealt with, together with the funds to the same credit, when the proper time arrives.

MR. J. MACVEAGH

Can the right hon. Gentleman say if some of these boxes were lodged as far back as the time of James II.?

MR. CHERRY

If so, the accounts would, I should think, be dormant by this time.

MR. J. MACVEAGH

Are they not all unclaimed?

MR. CHERRY

No, the owners are known.

MR. J. MACVEAGH

But they have not claimed?

MR. CHERRY

I gather not.

MR. J. MACVEAGH

And they have been there over 100 years.