§ 49. Mr. LOUGHasked the Prime Minister whether he has noticed that the Treasury Returns for the year ending 31st March, 1915, show that the true revenue of Ireland had practically reached an equilibrium and for the year ending 1916 that there was an excess of 5.3 millions over all Irish local expenditure although many of the new taxes had not come into full operation; whether he can now state what the Treasury estimate the surplus will be for the year ending March, 1917; whether the conditions as to financial equilibrium contemplated in Clause 26 of the Government of Ireland Act will then have been realised; and whether the Government intends to bring forward proposals to meet these new conditions?
The PRIME MINISTERSam aware of the figures to which my right hon. Friend refers. Those figures do not call for any action on the part of the Government in the present circumstances.