Revenue of the Irish Exchequer.
The Bill provides, in the first instance, for the period during which the yield of Irish taxes is less than the cost of Irish administration, and contemplates certain modifications after a financial equilibrium has been attained.
During that period the revenue of the Irish Exchequer will consist of a sum transferred annually from the Imperial Exchequer, and termed in the Bill the Transferred Sum, together with the receipts of the Irish Post Office.
The Transferred Sum will be fixed at the outset at such amount as will cover, with the addition of the Post Office revenue, the present expenditure on Irish Government, with the exception of the cost of the Reserved Services. Included in the Transferred Sum will also be a specified sum as surplus. The amount of this surplus will be £500,000 annually for a period of three years, then diminishing by £50,000 a year for six years till it reaches £200,000, at which sum it will remain.
Subject to this variation in the amount of the surplus and to certain minor variations specified in the Bill, and subject also to any changes consequent upon the exercise by the Irish Parliament of the powers of increasing or reducing taxation which are defined below, the amount of the Transferred Sum, fixed in the first year after the passing of the Act, will remain the same until an equilibrium is reached between the total revenue derived from Ireland and the total expenditure on Irish purposes.
Revenue of the Imperial Exchequer from Ireland.
The Bill provides that until such equilibrium is established the whole of the proceeds of all Irish taxes shall be collected by the Treasury of the United Kingdom, and be paid into the Imperial Exchequer. (This provision does not apply to Post Office revenue.)
The revenue so collected should be sufficient to cover the Transferred Sum and to provide a balance sufficient to defray a part of the cost of the Reserved Services. As the revenue from Ireland increases in the future, the receipts of the Imperial Exchequer will increase proportionately, and the yearly deficit which will fall at the outset upon the Imperial Exchequer will gradually be lessened and ultimately disappear.
Joint Exchequer Board.
The Bill establishes a Joint Exchequer Board of Great Britain and Ireland, consisting of two members appointed by the Imperial Treasury and two by the Irish Treasury, with a Chairman appointed by His Majesty the King.
The duty of the Board will be to determine certain questions of fact arising from time to time under the financial provisions of the Bill.
The figures given in this Paper are estimates only, and do not purport to be final. The Bill, therefore, does not rest upon these figures, but enables fuller returns to be obtained after the passing of the Act, and it provides that the amounts of Irish Revenue and Expenditure for the purposes of the Act shall be, not the figures given in this Paper, but such sums as may be determined after the passing of the Act, upon the basis of these fuller returns and of the more accurate figures of Revenue and Expenditure which will then be available, by the Joint Exchequer Board.
Revenue and Expenditure Accounts.
If, however, the estimates given above are assumed, for purposes of illustration, to be the figures finally determined, the Irish Government's Budget in the first year would balance as follows:—
| Revenue. | Expenditure. | ||
| £ | £ | ||
| Transferred Sum | 6,127,000 | All purposes not separately specified | 5,462,000 |
| Post Office | 1,354,000 | ||
| Fee Stamps | 81,000 | Post Office | 1,600,000 |
| 7,062,000 | |||
| Surplus | 500,000* | ||
| Total | 7,562,000 | Total | 7,562,000 |
| * Subject to subsequent reduction as stated above. | |||
The Imperial Government's receipts and expenditure on Irish account would balance as follows:—
| Revenue. | Expenditure. | ||
| £ | £ | ||
| Irish Revenue (excluding Post Office and fee stamps) |
9,404,000 | Transferred Sum Old Age Pensions |
6,127,000 2,664,000 |
| Deficit | 2,015,000 | National Insurance and Labour Exchanges | 191,500 |
| Land Purchase— | |||
| (1.) Land Commission (2.) Other Charges |
592,000 169,000 |
||
| Constabulary | 1,377,500 | ||
| Collection of Revenue | 298,000 | ||
| 11,419,000 | Total | 11,419,000 | |
Powers of Varying Taxation.
The Bill confers on the Irish Parliament the following financial powers:—
1. It may add to the rates of Excise Duties, Customs Duties on beer and spirits, Stamp Duties (with certain exceptions), Land Taxes, or Miscellaneous Taxes, imposed by the Imperial Parliament.
2. It may add to an extent not exceeding 10 per cent, to the Income Tax, Death Duties, or Customs Duties other than the duties on beer and spirits, imposed by the Imperial Parliament.
3. It may levy any new taxes, other than new Customs Duties.
4. It may reduce any tax levied in Ireland, with the exception of certain Stamp Duties.
The Imperial Treasury will collect the revenue arising from any increases in taxation enacted by the Irish Parliament in the exercise of these powers; and an addition will be made to the Transferred Sum of such amount as the Joint Exchequer Board may determine to be the produce of the additional taxation. Similarly, if taxation, is reduced by the Irish Parliament, a deduction will be made from the Transferred Sum corresponding to the loss of revenue due to the repeal of a tax or to collection at the lower rates.
The Irish Exchequer will therefore gain or lose by any increase or decrease in taxation enacted by the Irish Parliament, and the net revenue of the Imperial Exchequer will remain unaffected by such changes.
If Excise or Customs Duties are imposed at different rates in Great Britain and Ireland respectively, provision is made for the adjustment of the taxes paid in respect of articles passing from one country to the other.
As administrative difficulties might arise in certain cases if the 10 per cent. limitation mentioned above were in terms to prohibit additions to the taxes in question to an extent of more than 10 per cent. of the rates of tax, the Bill effects the object in view by enacting that only such proceeds of the tax as do not exceed 10 per cent. of the yield of the Imperial tax shall be transferred to the Irish Exchequer.
The Bill makes no specific reference to the powers of the Imperial Parliament to levy taxation in Ireland. The provision in clause 1 that the supreme power and authority of the Parliament of the United Kingdom shall remain unaffected retains the existing powers of the Imperial Parliament in this regard.
Transfer of the Reserved Services to the Irish Government.
After six years, the control of the Royal Irish Constabulary will pass to the Irish Executive. The Irish Parliament is empowered to assume at any time, with twelve months' notice, legislative and executive control with respect to Old Age Pensions, to National Health Insurance, or to Unemployment Insurance, together with Labour Exchanges. When any such transfer of Reserved Services is effected, the financial burden will be assumed by the Irish Exchequer, and an addition will be made to the Transferred Sum corresponding to the financial relief given to the Imperial Exchequer.
Loans and Capital Liabilities.
Loans made for the purposes of land purchase and loans made before the passing of the Act for other Irish purposes will be among the Reserved Services, and the payment of interest and sinking fund charges will be made by the Imperial Exchequer.
New loans may be raised by the Irish Parliament on the security of the Irish revenue. Provision is also made for enabling the joint Exchequer Board, if so authorised by the Irish Parliament, to issue the loans and to meet the interest and sinking fund charges by means of deductions from the Transferred Sum.
The Bill provides for the apportionment between the two Exchequers of liability for existing loans raised for Irish services.
Readjustment when Financial Equilibrium is reached.
When the total revenue received from Ireland by the Imperial Treasury has been sufficient, during three consecutive years, to meet the total charges for Irish purposes, the Exchequer Board shall report the fact with a view to a revision of the financial arrangements. Since it is impossible now to foresee what services may remain at that time as Reserved Services, what loans may have been contracted during the intervening years, and what changes may have been made in the rates of taxation, the Bill does not attempt to enact the modifications which may then be desirable.
It contemplates, however, as part of the present financial settlement, that Parliament will then consider, on the one hand, the fixing of such contribution by Ireland to the common expenses of the United Kingdom as may be equitable, and, on the other hand, the transfer to the Irish Legislature and Government of the control and collection of such taxes as may be deemed advisable.
The remaining clauses—from 27 to 47—are concerned with readjustments as to judges, civil servants, police and other matters, and do not vary substantially from the corresponding clauses in the Bill of 1893 (published in Appendix D). The first meeting of the Irish Parliament is fixed for the first Tuesday in September, 1913.
There are only two other clauses which require special notice, as adding fresh provisions to those laid down in the Bill of 1893.
The first is the 26th clause, which gives to the Irish special powers of representation at Westminster in the case of a revision of the financial arrangements:—
"For the purpose of revising the financial provisions of this Act in pursuance of this section, there shall be summoned to the Commons House of Parliament of the United Kingdom such number of members of the Irish House of Commons as will make the representation of Ireland in the Commons House of Parliament of the United Kingdom equivalent to the representation of Great Britain on the basis of population; and the members of the Irish House of Commons so summoned shall be deemed to be members of the Commons House of Parliament of the United Kingdom for the purpose of any such revision."
The second—Clause 42—provides that Irish laws shall be interpreted always in legal subordination to Acts of the Imperial Parliament:—
"(2) Where any Act of the Irish Parliament deals with any matter with respect to which the Irish Parliament have power to make laws which is dealt with by any Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed after the passing of this Act and extending to Ireland, the Act of the Irish Parliament shall be read subject to the Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, and so far as it is repugnant to that Act, but no further, shall be void."
(1.) The Decrease in Population since 1841.
| Year. | Population. | Decrease. | Decrease per cent. |
Great Britain. Increase per cent. |
|
| England. | Scotland. | ||||
| 1841 | 8,196,597 | — | — | — | — |
| 1851 | 6,574,278 | 1,622,319 | 19.8 | 12.65 | 10.2 |
| 1861 | 5,798,967 | 775,311 | 11.8 | 11.9 | 6.0 |
| 1871 | 5,412,377 | 386,590 | 6.7 | 13.21 | 9.7 |
| 1881 | 5,174,836 | 237,541 | 4.4 | 14.36 | 11.2 |
| 1891 | 4,704,750 | 470,086 | 9.1 | 11.65 | 7.8 |
| 1901 | 4,458,775 | 245,975 | 5.2 | 12.17 | 11.1 |
| 1911 | 4,381,951 | 76,824 | 1.7 | 10.9 | 6.4 |
N.B.—This Table is compiled from the Preliminary Reports of the Census of 1911, which give the population returns only as far back as 1841. There was, of course, a Census of the United Kingdom as early as 1801, but the official returns extended at first only to England and Scotland, and it was not until 1813 that there was any official census of Ireland. Even then it was far from correct. The first trustworthy Irish Census was that of 1821. For 1821 and 1831 the Census figures are given in "Whitaker" as follows:—
| 1821 | 6,801,827 |
| 1831 | 7,767,401 |
It is probable that the apparent rise of the population from 1821 to 1841 amounts to little more than the more correct taking of the Census among an illiterate population. But on the whole subject of the rise of population between 1821 and 1841, see my remarks in Chapter VIII. p. 105. It was due of course very largely to the creation of faggot votes by Protestant landlords desirous of being returned to Parliament under the old law before the passing of Catholic Emancipation in 1829. It was an artificial rise in the poorest section of the population going along with a steady decline in the general material prosperity of Ireland. Hence the great collapse of the famine period.
(2.) Irish Families since 1841.
(From Preliminary Census Report, 1911.)
| Year. | Number of Families. |
| 1841 | 1,472,787 |
| 1851 | 1,204,319 |
| 1861 | 1,128,300 |
| 1871 | 1,067,598 |
| 1881 | 995,074 |
| 1891 | 932,113 |
| 1901 | 910,256 |
| 1911 | 912,711 First Increase since 1841. |
(3.) Inhabited Houses Since 1841.
(From same source.)
| Year. | Number of Families. |
| 1841 | 1,328,839 |
| 1851 | 1,046,223 |
| 1861 | 995,156 |
| 1871 | 961,380 |
| 1881 | 914,108 |
| 1891 | 870,578 |
| 1901 | 858,158 |
| 1911 | 861,057 First Increase since 1841. |
(4.) Emigration.
For Decennial Periods, 1852-1910.
| Period. | Average Number of Emigrants, per year. | Per 1,000 of Population. |
| 1852-9 | 115,842 | 15.2 |
| 1860-9 | 85,960 | 15.2 |
| 1870-9 | 60,327 | 11.2 |
| 1880-9 | 80,491 | 16.0 |
| 1890-9 | 44,955 | 9.7 |
| 1900-9 | 35,886 | 8.1 |
| 1910 | 32,457 | 7.4 |
| 1911 | 31,058 | 7. |
An Act for the Union of Great Britain and Ireland.—[2d July 1800.]
WHEREAS in pursuance of His Majesty's most gracious Recommendation to the Two Houses of Parliament in Great Britain and Ireland respectively, to consider of such Measures as might best tend to strengthen and consolidate the Connection between the Two Kingdoms, the Two Houses of the Parliament of Great Britain and the Two Houses of the Parliament of Ireland have severally agreed and resolved, that, in order to promote and secure the essential Interests of Great Britain and Ireland, and to consolidate the Strength, Power, and Resources of the British Empire, it will be advisable to concur in such Measures as may best tend to unite the Two Kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland into One Kingdom, in such Manner, and on such Terms and Conditions, as may be established by the Acts of the respective Parliaments of Great Britain and Ireland:
And whereas, in furtherance of the said Resolution, both Houses of the said Two Parliaments respectively have likewise agreed upon certain Articles for effectuating and establishing the said Purposes, in the Tenor following:
Article First.
That it be the First Article of the Union of the Kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland, that the said Kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland shall, upon the First Day of January which shall be in the Year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and one, and for ever after, be united into One Kingdom, by the Name of The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland; and that the Royal Stile and Titles appertaining to the Imperial Crown of the said United Kingdom and its Dependencies; and also the Ensigns, Armorial Flags and Banners thereof, shall be such as His Majesty, by His Royal Proclamation under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom, shall be pleased to appoint.
Article Second.
That it be the Second Article of Union, that the Succession to the Imperial Crown of the said United Kingdom, and of the Dominions thereunto belonging, shall continue limited and settled in the same Manner as the Succession to the Imperial Crown of the said Kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland now stands limited and settled, according to the existing Laws, and to the Terms of Union between England and Scotland.
Article Third.
That it be the Third Article of Union, that the said United Kingdom be represented in One and the same Parliament, to be stiled The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
Article Fourth.
That it be the Fourth Article of Union, that Four Lords Spiritual of Ireland by Rotation of Sessions, and Twenty-eight Lords Temporal of Ireland elected for Life by the Peers of Ireland, shall be the Number to sit and vote on the Part of Ireland in the House of Lords of the Parliament of the United Kingdom; and One hundred Commoners (Two for each County of Ireland, Two for the City of Dublin, Two for the City of Cork, One for the University of Trinity College, and One for each of the Thirty-one most considerable Cities, Towns, and Boroughs), be the Number to sit and vote on the Part of Ireland in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom:
That such Act as shall be passed in the Parliament of Ireland previous to the Union, to regulate the Mode by which the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and the Commons, to serve in the Parliament of the United Kingdom on the Part of Ireland, shall be summoned and returned to the said Parliament, shall be considered as forming Part of the Treaty of Union, and shall be incorporated in the Acts of the respective Parliaments by which the said Union shall be ratified and established:
Here follow clauses making provision (1) that the House of Lords shall decide all questions of rotation or election in regard to Peers from Ireland, (2) that Irish Peers not sitting in the Lords may be elected to Commons, but loses thereby all privileges of Peerage, (3) that the Crown may create Irish Peerages in proportion of one for each three that become extinct until the Irish Peerage is reduced to 100, when they can go on creating enough to keep up to the 100.
The rest of this article consists of machinery provisions.
Article Fifth.
That it be the Fifth Article of Union, That the Churches of England and Ireland, as now by Law established, be united into One Protestant Episcopal Church, to be called, The United Church of England and Ireland; and that the Doctrine, Worship, Discipline, and Government of the said United Church shall be, and shall remain in full force for ever, as the same are now by Law established for the Church of England; and that the Continuance and Preservation of the said United Church, as the established Church of England and Ireland, shall be deemed and taken to be an essential and fundamental Part of the Union; and that in like Manner the Doctrine, Worship, Discipline, and Government of the Church of Scotland, shall remain and be preserved as the same are now established by Law, and by the Acts for the Union of the Two Kingdoms of England and Scotland.
Article Sixth
places Irish subjects under same laws and provisions in regard to trade and navigation prohibitions and bounties, imports and exports, and provides for the gradual abolition of customs duties between Great Britain and Ireland.
Article Seventh
provides that the Irish National Debt shall be kept distinct from the British National Debt. It fixes the proportions of contributions to revenue at 15 for Great Britain as to 2 for Ireland for 20 years. To be revised at the end of 20 years on a variety of alternative bases of calculation (Customs, trade, income, etc.). The contributions to be raised in both countries by taxes fixed by the United Parliament, and Parliament to have power to vary taxes, unify debt, and any Irish surplus to be reduced by reduction of taxation. Loans in future to be common.
Article Eighth
first recites that all present laws to remain in force till repealed. Provides also that these Articles not to become Act until passed by Parliament.
Ends by reciting the measure to be passed through Irish Parliament regulating the representation of Ireland at Westminster after 1801.
(1) The Bill of 1886.
A Bill to Amend the provision for the future Government of Ireland.
BE it enacted by the Queen's most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords Spiritual and Temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
Part I.
Legislative Authority.
1. On and after the appointed day there shall be established in Ireland a Legislature consisting of Her Majesty the Queen and an Irish Legislative Body.
2. With the exceptions and subject to the restrictions in this Act mentioned, it shall be lawful for Her Majesty the Queen, by and with the advice of the Irish Legislative Body, to make laws for the peace, order, and good government of Ireland, and by any such law to alter and repeal any law in Ireland.
3. The Legislature of Ireland shall not make laws relating to the following matters or any of them:—
(1.) The status or dignity of the Crown, or the succession to the Crown, or a Regency;
(2.) The making of peace or war;
(3.) The army, navy, militia, volunteers, or other military or naval forces, or the defence of the realm;
(4.) Treaties and other relations with foreign States, or the relations between the various parts of Her Majesty's dominions;
(5.) Dignities or titles of honour;
(7.) Offences against the law of nations; or offences committed in violation of any treaty made, or hereafter to be made, between Her Majesty and any foreign State; or offences committed on the high seas;
(8.) Treason, alienage, or naturalization;
(9.) Trade, navigation, or quarantine;
(10.) The postal and telegraph service, except as hereafter in this Act mentioned with respect to the transmission of letters and telegrams in Ireland;
(11.) Beacons, lighthouses, or sea marks;
(12.) The coinage; the value of foreign money; legal tender; or weights and measures; or
(13.) Copyright, patent rights, or other exclusive rights to the use or profits of any works or inventions.
Any law made in contravention of this section shall be void.
4. The Irish Legislature shall not make any law—
(1.) Respecting the establishment or endowment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or
(2.) Imposing any disability, or conferring any privilege, on account of religious belief; or
(3.) Abrogating or derogating from the right to establish or maintain any place of denominational education or any denominational institution or charity; or
(4.) Prejudicially affecting the right of any child to attend a school receiving public money without attending the religious instruction at that school; or
(5.) Impairing, without either the leave of Her Majesty in Council first obtained on an address presented by the Legislative Body of Ireland, or the consent of the corporation interested, the rights, property, or privileges of any existing corporation incorporated by royal charter or local and general Act of Parliament; or
(6.) Imposing or relating to duties of customs and duties of excise, as defined by this Act, or either of such duties or affecting any Act relating to such duties or any of them; or
(7.) Affecting this Act, except in so far as it is declared to be alterable by the Irish Legislature.
5. Her Majesty the Queen shall have the same prerogatives with respect to summoning, proroguing, and dissolving the Irish Legislative Body as Her Majesty has with respect to summoning, proroguing, and dissolving the Imperial Parliament.
6. The Irish Legislative Body whenever summoned may have continuance for five years and no longer, to be reckoned from the day on which any such Legislative Body is appointed to meet.
Executive Authority.
7.—(1.) The Executive Government of Ireland shall continue vested in Her Majesty, and shall be carried on by the Lord Lieutenant on behalf of Her Majesty with the aid of such officers and such council as to Her Majesty may from time to time seem fit.
(2.) Subject to any instructions which may from time to time be given by Her Majesty, the Lord Lieutenant shall give or withhold the assent of Her Majesty to Bills passed by the Irish Legislative Body, and shall exercise the prerogatives of Her Majesty in respect of the summoning, proroguing, and dissolving of the Irish Legislative Body, and any prerogatives the exercise of which may be delegated to him by Her Majesty.