§ Mr. HAZLETONasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he is aware that the Imperial Revenue Return issued on Friday shows that Ireland's contribution to Imperial purposes was only £583,000 last year; and whether he will say if, under the provisions of the Home Rule Bill of 1893 as it passed the House of Commons, Ireland's contribution to Imperial purposes on the basis of last year's Irish revenue figures would have been well over £3,000,000?
§ Mr. HOBHOUSEThe answer to the first part of the question is in the affirmative. The Home Rule Bill of 1893 provided that the arrangements for the contribution to Imperial liabilities and expenditure should be revised after six years, but, even upon the original basis, the contribution would (so far as the data in my right hon. Friend's possession enable him to calculate it) have been considerably less than the amount stated in the question. It must also be remembered that certain services which are treated as local for the purposes of the Return, were under the Home Rule Bill to be in part chargeable against the Exchequer of the United Kingdom, and that this vitiates the comparison suggested in the question.