§ Mr. GINNELLasked the Secretary to the Treasury if he would say what Crown lands, rents, and reversions in Ireland now remained unsold; the income from them respectively; the present cost of administration; where the work was done; how many were engaged at it; and whether they were whole-time public servants?
Mr. McKINNON WOODI cannot give the hon. Member particulars of all the Crown lands, rents, and reversions in Ireland which now remain unsold, since such particulars would be very voluminous. Particulars of the income and expenditure on account of Crown lands, etc., under the management of the Commissioners of Woods, will be found in their Annual Reports to Parliament. The work connected with them is done in the Office of Woods in London, the Quit Rent Office in Dublin, and by various collectors of Inland Revenue in Ireland who collect rents locally. All are whole-time public servants. The only officials engaged exclusively in this work are those who form the staff of the Quit Rent Office, fourteen in number.
§ Mr. GINNELLDoes the right hon. Gentleman intend to give the House, not me, any fuller information on this subject?
Mr. McKINNON WOODI am unable to give any further information than I have already given in a rather long answer.
§ Mr. GINNELLasked the Secretary to the Treasury if he would state the Irish purposes on which any of the capital or revenue from Crown property in Ireland had been expended since the Act of Union, with the amount spent on each of those purposes and the total so spent in the period?
Mr. McKINNON WOODWith the exception of certain sums mentioned in Appendix No. 6 (Section A) to the Report 1650 dated 1908 of the Departmental Committee on Irish Forestry, to which I referred the hon. Member in answer to a question in this House on the 31st ultimo, the capital moneys arising from time to time from Crown lands, rents, etc., in Ireland, have, under the provisions of the Crown Lands Acts, been merged in the capital of the Crown Land Revenues in the United Kingdom, and the surplus revenues have been paid into the Exchequer under the same Acts.
§ Mr. GINNELLasked the Secretary to the Treasury from what date accounts existed of the sale, redemption, or extinction of portions of Crown property in Ireland; and if he would specify in each case as from that date the property, the name of the purchaser or beneficiary, the amount of the purchase money, and the cases in which the claim, of the Crown was abandoned owing to refusal or omission to pay?
Mr. McKINNON WOODFull accounts of the sale of Crown properties in Ireland since 1827, when the Crown Revenues were placed under the management of the Commissioners of Woods, are in existence, and particulars of all such sales will be found in the Reports of those Commissioners from 1829 to the present time, I must refer the hon. Member to those Reports for the information he desires.
§ Mr. GINNELLIs it usual to refer Members of this House to Reports for eighty years past?
Mr. McKINNON WOODI think it is obvious that I could not give the results of these Reports in answer to a question.
§ Mr. GINNELLWill the right hon. Gentleman give the results of the Reports in a Return?
Mr. McKINNON WOODNo, I could not possibly do that; it would require an immense amount of work for which there is no commensurate public interest. The information is there at the disposal of the hon. Member.
§ Mr. GINNELLasked the Secretary to the Treasury if he would state the total amount received by the British Government, through whatever department, from lands, rents, reversions, and other Crown property in Ireland, and from sales of portions thereof, since the year 1800?
§ Mr. GINNELLasked the Secretary to the Treasury if he was in a position to specify the Crown lands, rents, and reversions in Ireland which came under the control of the British Government in consequence of the Act of Union; at what date they came under that control; whether there was in existence a continuous account of the administration of them from that date to the present time; if not, would he explain why, whether any of the property was sold, redeemed, or extinguished during any period unaccounted for; and whether, as part of the financial relations between the two countries, to be considered in connection with Home Rule, he would have the accounts, as far as available, printed and circulated?
Mr. McKINNON WOODI must again refer the hon. Member to Appendix No. 6 to the report dated 1908 of the Departmental Committee on Irish Forestry and to the reports of the Commissioners of Woods from 1829 to the present time. I cannot undertake to print and circulate any documents on the subject.