§ 82. Mr. J. P. FARRELLasked the Chief Secretary for Ireland whether he is aware that, from a Return made to the Longford County Council by the Local Government Board for Ireland, it appears that in the nineteen years from 1894 to 1913 the sum of £5,980 18s 8d. has been deducted from the local Grants due to the county from the Local Taxation Account in respect of alleged default by tenant purchasers to pay the instalments due to the Irish Land Commission; whether he is aware that in this Return no credit for the payment of these instalments subsequently by the tenants appears from the year 1894 to the year 1905; whether, during these eleven years, no portion of these debts was collected by the Land Commission or credited to the local funds of the county; whether, in that case, the lands charged with these debts were allowed to become derelict or are now derelict, and, if not, why the sums charged in respect of them have not been collected from the succeeding tenants, and, if so collected, why have they not been credited to the county funds; and whether, having regard to the importance of this matter to the ratepayers of county Longford, he is prepared to allow an inspection of the books of the 1880 Land Commission during these years by a chartered accountant acting on behalf of Longford County Council, who state that no such final loss has ever occurred in the county nor are they satisfied that these debts really exist?
§ The CHIEF SECRETARY for IRELAND (Mr. Birrell)The hon. Member is mistaken in supposing that the net deduction of £5,980 18s. 8d. referred to in the question consists solely of arrears of land purchase annuities. It also includes deductions on account of other insufficiency of income of the Land Purchase Account and the Irish Land Purchase Fund, established under the Acts of 1891 and 1903, respectively. The manner in which such other insufficiency of income arises was described in detail in the answer given by the Financial Secretary to the Treasury to the hon. Member for Waterford, on 22nd April, 1907. Of the sum of £5,980 18s. 8d. in question, £2,766 8s. 1d. represents arrears of annuities, and the balance of £3,214 10s. 7d. represents other insufficiency of income. The latter sum includes a considerable amount in respect of the "advance dividend," namely, the interest on the advance which accrues between the annuitant's first gale day and the dividend day, and moneys so deducted will be recouped to the county upon the payment of the final instalments of the purchaser's annuities. The arrears of £2,766 8s. 1d. do not represent a final loss, as the hon. Member infers. This sum comprised the total arrears in the county at the date when the Guarantee Fund Account was last made up. By the subsequent gale day the great bulk of such arrears had been recovered and credited to the County Guarantee Fund, but a fresh temporary arrear has since arisen in respect of the new gale, and this state of things recurs from gale day to gale day. There are no derelict purchasers' holdings in county Longford.