§ Mr. HUGH BARRIEasked the Secretary to the Treasury (1) how many insured persons there were in Ireland on the 31st December last; and how did the number compare with the official estimate; and (2) how many insured persons there were on 31st December in Belfast, Dublin, and Cork, and the counties of Down, Antrim, and Londonderry; and how did the respective numbers compare with the official estimate?
§ Mr. MASTERMANThe number of first quarter's cards returned to the Irish Commissioners is approximately 694,500. The original estimates of the actuaries in Cd. 5681 gave 1,040,000 insured persons in Ireland. This figure, however, included an estimate of over 200,000 voluntary contributors, which was, as they pointed out, necessarily very conjectural as the actual number depends on the exercise of individual options. The main reductions in the figures shown by the return of cards as compared with the original estimate are in the number of voluntary contributors who joined during the first quarter and in the number of deposit contributors. The figures for the second quarter and for particular districts in Ireland are not yet available, but I hope to be in a position to give them early next month.