§ Mr. WILLIAM O'BRIENasked the Chief Secretary for Ireland, whether he has read the recent reply of the secretary to the Kerry County Council with reference to land purchase losses, stating that the certificate of the Land Commission and National Debt Commissioners is of no assistance to county secretaries, as it merely gives the total payments into and out of the Guarantee Fund, but gives no particulars, no outstanding arrears, and no balances; whether he will have an audited copy of these accounts, the Guarantee Fund, etc., prepared showing in the ordinary way the receipts, expenditure, outstanding arrears, and balances, submitted regularly to the various councils concerned; whether he has also observed that, though there were deducted from the Kerry County Council grants sums amounting to over £3,000 in two years, February 1909 and 1911, not one shilling of this amount was subsequently remitted to the council; whether he is aware that there were in previous years other deductions for defaulting annuitants which also were not remitted, and will he therefore say how he arrives at the fact that there have been no losses to the ratepayers, as all these deductions have been charged on the rates and not subsequently remitted to the councils, even though it is asserted that the amounts have been collected from 1285W the annuitants and that there are practically no irrecoverable arrears; and whether he will consider the suggestion to alter in the manner suggested the dates for payment of the dividends on the Land Stock so as to give more time for the collection of the annuities before the deductions are made from the grants or, in other words, to allow in all cases for a hanging gale, and thus obviate all this trouble, and put an end to the dislocation of the local government finances that is taking place and will continue to take place until some such change is made?
§ Mr. HOBHOUSEMy attention has been drawn to the letter of the secretary to the Kerry County Council of the 14th instant. As regards the statement that no part of the arrears when recovered is remitted to the council, this is explained by the fact that, as the annuities payable in the county increase with each successive gale owing to further advances, so the arrears, which average a certain proportion of the annuities, will naturally increase. It follows that the arrears when recovered are only sufficient to meet in part the arrears of the following gale, and the excess has to be drawn from the guarantee fund. While, therefore, there is no permanent loss to the ratepayers, there is a temporary charge on the guarantee fund which may be expected to increase by a small amount each year so long as advances are being made, but which will remain more or less constant when advances cease, and will revert to the ratepayers when the annuities determine. The accounts of the various Departments connected with Irish land purchase are audited by the Comptroller and Auditor-General, and there does not appear to be any necessity for preparing further detailed accounts with respect to each council concerned, as, having regard to the number of annuities in existence, the trouble involved would entail more expense than the results would justify. The dates for the payment of the dividends could not now be changed without the consent of all the stockholders. Such a change would be of no advantage in the manner indicated, as the date when arrears shall be charged to the guarantee fund is fixed by Section 36 (4) of the Act of 1903, and has reference to the gale day, and not to the date when the dividends are payable.