§ Mr. PATRICK WHITEasked whether, if Great Britain and Ireland were taken as a single entity for the purpose of paying the old age pensions 1909–10, and that the amount paid in each country continues to bear the same proportion to each other as they did in that year, and if a ratio was calculated as to what each country should contribute to a common fund, having regard to their respective standards of wealth as indicated in their yield of Income Tax on investments in Government stocks, public companies, foreign dividends, coupons, etc., under Schedules C and D, year 1909–10, Ireland's contribution as compared to that of Great Britain would he about as 1 to 27; and, if so, whether, if the payment of old age pensions was regarded as an Imperial liability of the State towards His Majesty's subjects in Great Britain and Ireland, without regard to where they are domiciled therein, there should be transferred from the cost of civil government in Ireland under the heading of old age pensions a sum approaching two millions; and, if not, will the right hon. Gentleman state the exact amount?
§ Mr. HOBHOUSEThe total expenditure on old age pensions in 1909–10 was £8,496,000. One twenty-seventh of this sum is £315,000. The expenditure on old age pensions in Ireland in 1909–10 was £2,443,000, or £2,128,000 more than one twenty-seventh of the total expenditure in the United Kingdom.