31 MARCH 1927.

In reply to an inquiry, I am informed by the Treasury that strict compliance with the provisions of the section is considered to be administratively impracticable. It is not anticipated that the procedure adopted will appreciably affect the ultimate sum to be retained in the Exchequer under the Act.

Payments to Northern Ireland Exchequer.

4. The payments payments to the Northern Ireland Exchequer amounting to £5,766,751 14s. 6d., shown on page 2 of the Account, include issues of £993,273 for the services specified in paragraphs 5 and 6 below together with £4,773,478 14s. 6d. issued under Section 24 of the Government of Ireland Act, 1920, in respect of the Northern Ireland residuary share of reserved taxes.

5. Section 34, Sub-section (1), of the Government of Ireland Act, 1920 directs that there shall be charged on the Consolidated Fund such sums as the Joint Exchequer Board may certify to be necessary for the purpose of providing buildings (including sites) and equipment for the accommodation of the Parliament and Public Departments of Northern Ireland.

The amount issued under these certificates in 1926 was £126,800, making a total of £618,038 4s. 7d. at 31 March, 1927. 6. Section 1, Sub-section (2), of the Unemployment Insurance (Northern Ireland Agreement) Act, 1926, directs that any sums. certified by the Joint Exchequer Board to be payable from the Exchequer of the United Kingdom to the Exchequer of Northern Ireland, under the agreement set forth in the Schedule to the Act, shall be charged on and paid out of the Consolidated Fund of the United Kingdom.

Under this section £866,473 was issued to the Northern Ireland Exchequer in 1926, on account of the contribution which may ultimately be found to be due for the year ended 31 March, 1927, at which date the total issues amounted to £1,551,473.

The final amount of the contribution certified by the Joint Exchequer Board to be due to the Northern Ireland Exchequer in respect of the statutory period from 1 October, 1925, to 31 March, 1926, was £706,069, of which £685.000 was issued in 1925, as stated in paragraph 3 of my Report for that year, and the balance of £21,069 was paid in April, 1927.

Other Consolidated Fund Services: Miscellaneous Services.

7. Included under this head is an amount of £40,753 17s. 5d. issued and applied, by virtue of the Turkish Loan Act, 1855, for interest and management charges of the Imperial Ottoman Guaranteed Loan of 1855. An amount of £24,405 10s. 4d. was issued for this service in 1925.

65650

A 3

IN THE YEAR ENDED

The interest of this loan is guaranteed jointly and severally by the British and French Governments. No portion of the total of £65,159 7s. 9d. issued as above has yet been repaid to the Exchequer.

8. The Tithe Act, 1925, transferred to Queen Anne's Bounty, en 31 March, 1927, all tithe rentcharges then attached to benefices or ecclesiastical corporations, and Section 7, Sub-section (1), operates so that the amount of any poor, district, or other rate on such tithe rentcharges, made on or after 1 October, 1926, shall be paid by the Commissioners of Inland Revenue, who will receive from the Bounty certain contributions, specified in the Act, towards these payments on account of rates.

Sub-section (2) of the above section provides that the net sum certified by the Treasury to be so payable by the Commissioners shall be repaid to them out of the Consolidated Fund. Under this Sub-section an amount of £352,753 8s. 8d., included under the head" Other Consolidated Fund Services: Miscellaneous Services," was issued to the Commissioners of Inland Revenue in March, 1927, in reimbursement of £72,753 8s. 8d. paid by them in the quarter ended 31 December, 1926, and £280,000 estimated to be payable in the quarter to 31 March, 1927.

The actual amount paid by the Inland Revenue authorities in the half-year to 31 March, 1927, was subsequently ascertained to be £313,389 13s. 2d., from which no deduction fell to be made in respect of sums payable by Queen Anne's Bounty on account of rates. The provisional issue made in March, 1927, was adjusted accordingly, under a Treasury Certificate given after the close of the year.

Of the sum finally issued for the half-year to 31 March, 1927, £165,606 14s. 4d. is a new charge under the Act of 1925; the balance, £147,782 18s. 10d., would have been issued to the Inland Revenue authorities, had the Act of 1925 not been passed, in reimbursement of rates which would then have been payable by them under the Tithe Rentcharge (Rates) Act, 1899. This latter sum would have been deducted from moneys payable to Local Taxation Accounts, and is still so deductible, under Section 7, Sub-section (3), of the Act of 1925.

Temporary Advances: Unemployment Fund.

9. During the year £17,942,431 8s. 3d. was advanced to the Ministry of Labour, repayable from the Unemployment Fund, under the Employment Insurance Acts, 1921. The amount repaid from the Fund was £410,000, and £132,000 was received from the Government of the Irish Free State, under the agreement mentioned in paragraph 7 of my Report for last year in respect of their share of advances prior to 31 March, 1922. The net outstanding amount due from the Fund to the Exchequer was, therefore, increased from £7,177,568 11s. 9d. on 31 March,

31 MARCH 1927.

1926, to £24,710,000 on 31 March, 1927, when the amount due by the Consolidated Fund to the National Debt Commissioners in respect of moneys borrowed from them for the purpose of advances was £24,910,431 8s. 3d., of which £200,431 8s. 3d. was covered by the outstanding Free State Lability to the Exchequer.

Old Sinking Fund, 1907-08.

10. An amount of £790 was issued during the year, under Section 9 of the Finance Act, 1908, and the unissued balance of surplus revenue, 1907-08, which is earmarked for the erection. of public offices, was thus reduced from £196,000 at 31 March, 1926, to £195,210 at 31 March, 1927.

CURRENCY NOTE REDEMPTION ACCOUNT.

11. This Account showed that at 30 March, 1927, assets totalling to £299.948,139 9s. 5d. in cash and securities were held, covering the amount of the notes outstanding, £288,066,503, and the balance on the Investments Reserve Account of £11,881,636 9s. 5d. The corresponding figures for notes outstanding and Investments Reserve Account at 31 March, 1926, were £295,337,267 and £12,226,386 9s. 1d. respectively.

The reserve is fixed by Treasury Minute at 5 per cent. of the total securities held and advances outstanding, which decreased from £244,585,099 8s. 1d. at 31 March, 1926, to £237,913,350 12s. 1d. at 30 March, 1927. This decrease enabled a reduction of £344,749 19s. 8d. to be effected in the Reserve, and this sum, together with £6,465,250 0s. 4d. received during the year in respect of interest receipts, less net loss on sale of stocks, making a total of £6.810,000, was transferred to the Exchequer.

Malcolm G. Ramsay,

Comptroller and Auditor General.

Exchequer and Audit Department, 8 February 1928.

(65650) Wt. 26223-38 500 3/28 H. St. G. 17

DIEU

DROIT

COPY OF
OF TREASURY MINUTE

Dated the 16th February, 1928, on the
Report of a Committee (Cmd. 2950)
appointed by the Treasury to consider

DEPARTMENTAL EXPENSES CHARGED

BY

GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENTS

Presented to Parliament by the Financial Secretary
to the Treasury by Command of His Majesty
March, 1928

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