The New Zealand Tablet THURSDAY, MAY 25, 1911. HOME RULE FINANCE

New Zealand Tablet, 25 May 1911, Page 961

The New Zealand Tablet THURSDAY, MAY 25, 1911. HOME RULE FINANCE

GOOD deal has been heard of late about the fffijf/xvJh& alleged ' financial difficulty' in the way of #\yvLlV Home Rule; and as is usual in such cases the _Mvx)]N\! greatest amount of noise has been made by those who have the least knowledge of tho CjSysjVfef) subject. It is said that in the national balancev\yhd&? sheet Ireland shows a heavy deficit that she i s > i n fact, insolvent; and that she will be 1 '% utterly unable to carry on a government of her own for many years without a substantial subvention from the Imperial Government. ' The great I weakness of the Nationalists' position,' says one New Zealand daily, ' leaving all the constitutional questions on one side, is in the fact that while they claim political independence for Ireland they cannot pay for it by becoming financially independent. Ireland must, for some years, remain in receipt of indirect bounties from the British tax-payer.' Even if, as alleged, it should be necessary for some few years that England should take some small financial rseponsibility in connection with Irish government, it cannot be too strongly emphasised that such assistance would be a matter, not of bounty, but of restitution pure and simple. According to the findings of the Financial Relations Commission, set up by the House of Commons in 1895, an amount ranging between £200,000,000 and

£400,000,000 had up to that time been extorted from Ireland in over-taxation;- and England, after plundering Ireland for eleven decades, could,not, with any. sort of decency, demur to making a trivial repayment for, say, two decades. The amount of the present deficit, as will be shown, has been ridiculously exaggerated; and for the rest, Nationalises of weight and authority, such as Mr. John Redmond, Mr. John Dillon, and* Mr. T. M. Kettlemen familiar with all the facts of the case —are unanimous in their conviction that, provided the question be approached in a spirit of sympathy and good will, the financial aspect of the problem will present no real difficulty whatever. * The statements that are now being bandied about from one paper to another regarding the present financial position of Ireland purport to have been based originally on figures contained in certain Treasury White Papers which have been issued. It would appear, however, that the Treasury figures are very far from being reliable. According to Mr. T. M. Kettle, M.A., Professor of Economics in the National University of Ireland, and one of the greatest living authorities in the United Kingdom on the subject under discussion, the analysis to which these White Papers have been submitted has 'stripped them of all claim to authority, accuracy, or fairness as an account of the financial position of Ireland under the Union.' Professor Kettle thus summarises the main results of an impartial examination of the papers:—' (1) The Treasury White Papers are, in their very nature and scheme of arrangement, a violation in terms of the Act of Union. (2) On the Revenue side they abound in mere guesses. The true revenue' contributed by Ireland under such large heads as tobacco, beer, tea, and sugar was actually calculated : for 1909-10 on the basis of auguries or conjectures made for 1903-4. # (3) On the expenditure side they are a deliberate sophistication. Their manipulation of the three categories "Irish,"" and "Imperial" bears a strong family resemblance to the three-card trick. (4) The true financial position of ' Ireland is," therefore, unknown. It never can be known until the creation of an Irish Parliament calls into existence both motive and machinery for ascertaining it. (5) The Union has forced on us an extraordinarily wasteful system of administration. Of late years reform has been added to extravagance: It seems certain therefore, though accurate details are lacking, that expendil ture has overtaken revenue, and that there is a "deficit" of unascertained dimensions.' j.'".' ' n^V : ." * ■■'■.' /-■:"'....-'- ">'■■ ■• ' r -: : That Ireland, however, i has been run at a loss''by England, or that— the purely financial point of viewshe has been anything but a highly satisfactory asset admits of easy and complete disproof. As already mentioned, up till the year 1895 England had appropriated a sum approximating towards £400,000,000 in over-taxation and the over-taxation kas continued (pace the Dominio7>,) right down to the present time. Prof. Kettle thus epitomises the financial history of tho most distressful ??qT 7 K£ t ? e , yea * 794 to the ear 191 °- (d) From 1/H4 to 1817 Ireland is impelled towards insolvency bv forced charges for the war against France, for the oribinr, of Irish members to sell their Parliament, and for the ?£F 0 gm , * nd hanging of Irish "rebels." (2) From 1817 to 1803 she is over-taxed though not so grievously as in late years. (3) From 1853 to 1910 she is over-taxed torn ?££?!?* whlcl for 1893 " 4 was a leas t £2,750 noo and for 1907-8. at least £3,500,000.' That Ireland has retSd I satisfactory, dividend to the predominant partner and has been a thoroughly profitable appanage to the British taxpayer since the Act 0 the Union is shown by the following table giving the official retrospective estimate of Ireland's contribution to the Imperial expenditure furnished by the British Treasury to the Financial Relations Commission above referred to. The figures are for each tenth year: CONTRIBUTION TO IMPERIAL SERVICES.

TABLE A.—IRELAND.

From this it will be seen that Ireland's lowest contribution exceeded two millions, and that in one year it ran up to over live and a-quarter millions. * With all this said, it is admitted that at the present time there is a 'deficit'that for 1909-10, according to Professor Kettle, being certainly less fjian £1,500,000. The deficiency in revenue is due to the decay of population and of Irish manufactures brought about by inimical English laws, to enormous over-taxation, and to the horrible wastage on such items as police expenditure. Professor Kettle suggests a simple, reasonable, and immediately practicable method by which the existing discrepancy could lie adjusted. The cost of the Royal Irish Constabulary for the year just mentioned was £1,351,500, that of Old Age Pensions, £2,342,000, and that of the Land Purchase Bonus £122,000. Imperial policy,' says Professor Kettle, is responsible for at least two-thirds of the first, for at least one-half of the second, and for the whole of the third. Transfer to Imperial shoulders but one-third of each, and the "deficit" disappears. Let the Imperial Parliament pay the piper in respect of the tunes which it has been calling in Ireland, despite Irish protests, since the Union, and the Home Rule Parliament will start with a comfortable balance.' Messrs. John Redmond and John Dillon are equally emphatic in their conviction that there is no real financial difficulty. Says the former: ' The suggestion that a financial settlement just to both countries is a really serious difficulty in our way is, in my opinion, totally untrue.' And Mr. John Dillon, in a recent speech at Halifax, after giving his views as to the way in which things might bo managed for the first few years, is reported as saying: 'He thought it would be an easy task to run Ireland in this way without adding any additional burden to the taxation of Great Britain.' As we write, Home files bring the news of f the appointment, by the British Government, of a non-partisan and thoroughly capable Committee to 'ascertain and consider, amongst othe* things, the existing Financial Relations between Ireland and the other component parts of the United Kingdom, and to distinguish as far as possible between Irish local expenditure and Imperial expenditure in Ireland.' Thepersonnel of the Committee has given general satisfaction; and it is safe to predict that the net results of their investigations will be to bring home the fact that there is no remedy for the present financial evils and anomalies except Mr. Gladstone's remedy—Home Rule —which alone ' can give to Ireland the power and the incentive to economise with prudence, and to spend with judgment her own money.'

W •g £ O C .2 « .ts C .2 c " w o - kJ s a. X W £ O 6 1819 to 5 5 Jan., 1820 ... £ Jan., 1820 ... 5,256,564 £ £ 5,256,564 1,564,880 £ £ 1,564,880 3,691,684 £ 3,691,684 1829 to 5 4,156,571 Jan., 1830 ... 5.502,125 1,345,549 4,156^57-3 1839 to 5 3,626,322 1829 to 5 Jan., 1830 ... 5.502,125 1,345,549 1839 to 5 Jan., 1840 ... Jan., 1840 ... 5,415,889 5,415,889 1,7-89,567 1,789,667 3,626,322 1849 to 5 5 Jan., 1850 ... Jan., 1850 ... 4,861,465 4,861,465 2,247,687 2,247,687 2,613 773 2,613*773 ,1859-60- to 30 Mar., 1860 6,396,000 7,700,334 2,304,334 5,396,000 4,488,210 3,226,307 2,684,694 ,1859-60 to 30 Mar., 1860 7,700,334 ■1869-70 to 7,426,332 2,304,334 1869-70 31 Mar., 1870 to 7,426,332 31 Mar., 1870 2,938,122 2,938,122 1879-80 to to 31 Mar., 1880 31 Mar., 1880 7,280,856 7,280,856 4,054,549 4,054,549 1889-90 to to 31 Mar., 1890 31 Mar., 1890 7,863,661 7,863,661 5,178,967 5,178,967