§ Sir JOHN SPEARasked if the Secretary to the Treasury is aware that the sum handed over to the Devon County Council from the proceeds of carriage licences within the county area for the year 1910–11 was £4,428 less than was actually received by the Treasury from such licences during the year; is he aware that the amount so paid entails a burden on the ratepayers of the county; if the £4,428 is paid over to the Road Board by the Treasury, will he explain why all applications for grants toward the cost of road improvement made by the council to that body have up to the present been refused; and will he consider the necessity of repealing Section 18 of the Act of 1911 under which this action is taken?
Mr. McKINNON WOODThe loss which the Devon County Council appear to have suffered through the operation of Section 18 of the Revenue Act of 1911 has been the subject of correspondence between the council and the Treasury. I have not been able from official records to check the figures given by the council, but it is of course inevitable that in any commutation of variable payments on the basis of the figures for a particular year loss must arise in individual instances. With regard to the latter part of the question, I understand that the county council were asked on the 19th April last to furnish certain information which the Road Board required to have before deciding on the grants to be made, and the Chairman of the Board, accompanied by the Consulting Engineer, proposed to make an inspection of the roads and to meet representatives of the county council in June last. The inspection was postponed because the information asked for in April had not been furnished. The Board will proceed to deal with the applications when they receive the information required. I see no reason to repeal Section 18 of the Revenue Act, 1911.