§ Mr. PATRICK O'BRIENasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he is aware that Sir Robert Giffen, in preparing statements to lay before the Financial Relations Commission about 1894–5, had treated the income of farmers below a certain limit as wages for labourer and not profits from capital; whether he could lay before the House Sir Robert Giffen's precise method of dealing with the question; whether the Local Government Board for Ireland accepted Sir Robert Giffen's view as a basis of assessment of small farmer pension claimants' incomes; if not, whether he could state if the Board in question had considered, or had knowledge of, this authority's view before dealing with such claims; and, if not, whether he would state what authorities, if any, on questions of political economy were or had been studied and followed by the members of the Board in question; and whether, in view of the dissatisfaction in Ireland at the manner in which small farmer claims were rejected by the Board, on assessments attributing to the claimants the benefits received by their children labouring on the farm, he would appoint a committee of inquiry on which Irish interests would be adequately represented to inquire into the Board's action in such cases?
§ Mr. BIRRELLThe Local Government Board, while aware that Sir Robert Giffen had expressed these opinions, did not rely entirely upon them in estimating the incomes of the small farmers, considering that by the terms of section 4 of the Act they must take into account the actual value of the subsistence derived by each claimant from his farm. The Board do not admit that there is general dissatisfaction in Ireland at the action of the Board beyond that which must naturally be expected from unsuccessful claimants. In every case of appeal the Board have made due allowance for the cost of labour incidental to the working of a farm. I 2139W am not aware of any sufficient reason for appointing a committee to inquire into the matter.