§ 51. Mr. MARJORIBANKSasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will state the total capitalised value of the land annuities payable by the Irish Free State to the Exchequer of Great Britain, and the term of years during which such payments still remain to be paid?
Mr. CHAMBERLAINThe total amount of the advances in respect of which land purchase annuities are payable by His Majesty's Government in the Irish Free State to the National Debt Commissioners is approximately 289,500.000. The sinking funds accumulated in the hands of the National Debt Commissioners towards the repayment of these advances amount to approximately £13,500,000, leaving about £76,000,000 still to be met by future accumulations of the sinking fund payments. The period during which the annuities remain to be paid varies according to the provisions of the several Acts tinder which the advances have been made, and also depends in general on the rate at which the guaranteed stocks can be acquired by the sinking funds, And hence on the market prices of these stocks ruling from time to time. Thus no reliable estimate of the period is possible.
§ 52. Mr. MARJORIBANKSasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer when the next payment of the land annuities payable by the Irish Free State to the Exchequer of Great Britain falls due?
Mr. CHAMBERLAINThe next payment of the annuities, which are paid direct to the National Debt Commissioners and not, into the Exchequer, falls due in the latter part of June next.
§ Mr. MARJORIBANKSWill the right hon. Gentleman make it clear while there is yet time that the policy announced by the President of the Irish Executive is a repudiation of the most flagrant kind and is not a matter for litigation?
§ 7. Mr. T. WILLIAMS(for Colonel WEDGWOOD) asked the Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs whether his attention has been called to the position in Ireland; and when the next payment of the land purchase annuities from Ireland is due?
Mr. J. H. THOMASThe general attitude of His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom is as stated in the reply which I gave to the right hon. Gentleman on 1st March, namely, that His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom regard the relations between this country and the Irish Free State as resting upon the Treaty of 1921. As regards the particular question of the land annuities, I have seen various statements in the Press as to action now proposed by His Majesty's Government in the Irish Free State, but I have received no official communication from the Irish Free State Government with regard to it. The next payment is due in the latter part of June.
I ought to inform the House that since drafting that answer, and indeed since I have arrived at the House, I have received officially from the Irish Free State High Commissioner in London a very important and serious document dealing with this situation. It is too important to answer now, but I will take the earliest opportunity, probably tomorrow, to give an official answer. It is only fair to say that this communication only came to me since I drafted the answer, and I felt that I ought not to leave the House in any doubt as to the gravity and seriousness of the situation.