§ Sir S. HOAREasked the Chief Secretary for Ireland what is the amount of the local expenditure in Ireland for each of the last five years, and what is the estimate for this year?
§ Mr. MACPHERSONThe amount of the local expenditure in Ireland for each of the last five years, was as follows:—
£ 1914–5 … … … 12,656,000 1915–6 … … … 12,597,000 1916–7 … … … 12,686,000 1917–8 … … … 13,002,000 1918–9 … … … 22,161,500 An estimate of Irish expenditure in the current year will be found in the White Paper [Cmd. 685] recently issued to explain the financial provisions of the Government of Ireland Bill. But to the figure of £19,300,000 there given should be added about £300,000 for the cost of the recent increase in Old Age Pensions for the last quarter of the year, and also the cost of Out-of-Work Donation and Bread Subsidy, which are included in the figure given above for 1918–9, but were excluded in the White Paper. These latter items would amount to about £9,500,000.