L L L
Civil Government Charges, 1910-11: 
(a) On Consolidated Fund: 
(1) Civil List, Salaries, Pensions,
and Miscellaneous Charges 340,500 148,000 138,500
(2) Development and Road
Improvement Funds
(3) Payments to Local Taxation
Accounts, etc. 7,199,500 1,204,500 1,477,500
(b) Voted 26,121,500 4,180,500 8,026,000

Total Civil Government Charges 33,661,500 5,533,000 9,642,000

Customs and Excise and Inland Revenue 3,157,000   464,000   298,000
Post Office Services                 15,798,500 1,930,000 1,404,500

Total Expenditure 52,617,000 7,927,000 11,344,500

L  s. d.    L  s. d.     L  s. d. 
Per head of population               1  9  2    1  13 31/2    2  11  9

The totals, if we consider relative populations, appear startling.

Look at the third, or Irish, column, and set aside the two last items, “Customs, Excise, and Inland Revenue,” and “Post-Office Services,” which represent the cost of collecting Irish Revenue and maintaining the Irish postal, telegraph, and telephone services.  We may note in passing, however, that the Post-Office receipts in Ireland in 1910-11, according to the Treasury estimate, were less than the outgoings by L249,000 (receipts, L1,155,500; outgoings, L1,404,500).

The Civil Government Charges are the most important heads of expense, and these are divided into two main classes:  (a) charged on Consolidated Fund; (b) Voted.

Class (a) consists of (1) Salaries, Pensions, etc.; (2) Development and Road Improvement Funds; (3) Payments to Local Taxation Accounts.

In other parts of Return No. 220 will be found the details of expenditure in these various classes: 

(1) The Salaries and Pensions need not detain us long.  The principal item is judicial salaries, L102,000, as compared with L282,000 for England, which has more than eight times the population of Ireland.  Another item, L20,000 for the Lord-Lieutenant, is double the sum allotted to any Colonial Governor, even of the Dominion of Canada, which has nearly twice the population of Ireland.  But the extravagance lies, not in the cash amount, but in the fact that the Irish Lord-Lieutenancy is, under present conditions, an anomalous institution.  No Irishman would grudge a penny of the sum if the Lord-Lieutenant, like a Colonial Governor, presided over a responsibly governed Ireland.

(2) Road Improvement and Development Funds.  This category is blank for the year 1910-11.  There will be payments for the current year which will swell the Irish expenditure.

(3) Payments to Local Taxation Accounts, L1,477,500.  This raises an intricate subject, into which I cannot enter in great detail.  It is well known that the whole system of relieving local taxation out of Imperial taxation needs thorough revision.  Meanwhile Ireland, like other parts of Great Britain, has been allotted at various times a multitude of different grants under various Acts, but principally under the Local Government (Ireland) Act, 1898, and the Finance Acts of recent years.