HOME RULE FINANCE.
[TO THE EDITOR Ow TEE "SPECTATOR,')
Sin,—In your interesting article on Home Rule finance in last week's issue you say that under the Home Rule Bill. Great Britain will have to pay annually to Ireland (1) £2,000,000 in cash, (2) £2,000,000 to meet "reserved services" (i.e., old-age pensions, national insurance, laud purchase), and (3) at least £4,000,000 for Imperial expenditure (i.e., for the Navy, Army, Im.), and then you say : "Therefore in reality our subsidy or tribute to Ireland will amount at the very least to £6,000,000 a year." But £2,000,000 plus 22,000,000 plus £4,000,000 makes £8,000,000. Have you not under-estimated the cost to Great Britain by £2,000,000 [In our original statement we apparently did not make it sufficiently clear that the net annual Irish deficit was only £2,000,000. To this must be added Ireland's share of the Imperial charges-24,000,000. Total, £6,000,000. In fact (1) and (2) in our correspondent's letter are but different aspects of the same expenditure.—ED. Spectator.)
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