§ Mr. MAURICE HEALYasked the Secretary to the Treasury if any precedents exist in the case of English municipalities for making deductions from contributions in lieu of rates where the municipality is willing to provide, in the case of the Government buildings concerned, the same services as arc rendered to ordinary ratepayers; if so. whether he will specify the same; whether it is the practice of Government authorities in England to put pressure on municipalities to render services which they have no legal powers to render under penalty of reducing their contribution in lieu of rates; and whether, in the case of the Cork Barracks, any attempt was made by the military authorities to procure a contractor for the removal of refuse on the days when the Corporation were unable to remove it?
§ Mr. HOBHOUSEThere are a great many precedents in the case of English municipalities, as well as in Ireland, for deductions of the kind referred to, but I see no reason for specifying them in either country. In no case has any difficulty been raised by the local authority concerned. A Government contribution in lieu of rates is a bounty and not a payment legally due, and the principle of modifying it in such cases as these is that public money should not be expended twice over for the same service. The question of putting pressure on the Cork Corporation to act illegally does not arise. As regards the last part of the question, I am informed that no attempt was made by the military authorities to procure a contractor to remove the1154W refuse on the days when the corporation were unable to remove it.