discount, and the interest and
sinking-fund on the Stock raised to pay the bonus to landlords.

No. 10. The vote of L415,000 for the Department of Agriculture, whose
origin and functions I described in Chapter IX., does not accurately
show the actual cost of the Department, because it excludes the greater
part of an Endowment Income of L166,000 a year, derived partly from the
Irish Church Fund, partly from the Irish Local Taxation Account, and
partly from the interest on a capital endowment of L200,000, as well as
other small miscellaneous grants. But it includes a sum of about L44,000
for some museums, colleges, gardens, etc., whose English counterparts
are subsidized under different votes, as well as the sum of L144,000
for the Congested Districts Board.[131] Nor does this latter sum
represent the full cost of the Congested Districts Board, which has also
an Endowment Income from the Irish Church Fund of L41,250, a subsidy
from the Ireland Development Grant, and a fluctuating income from
various sources--rents, etc.

Part of the expense of the Department itself must be regarded as
abnormal, in view of the extraordinarily backward economic condition of
the country when it was founded. Nor, valuable as the Department's work
is, can it be safely assumed that the cost is not extravagant. As long
as any Department relies on an Imperial vote there can be no certainty
that the expenditure will be economical. The whole cost of the Congested
Districts Board is abnormal. Its very existence is evidence of the
failure of external government in Ireland, and, as I urged in Chapter
IX., the whole question of the treatment of the congested districts
needs thorough investigation at the hands of a responsible Irish
Government.

B. REDUCTIONS IN EXPENDITURE.

1910-11. 1891-92.

L L
1. Relief of Distress 5,000 183,675
2. Pauper Lunatics Grant 111,655
3. Teachers' Pensions Grant 90,000
4. Railways (Ireland) Grant 61,000 341,934
5. Local Government Board 92,500 132,748
6. Chief Secretary's Offices 27,500 39,681
7. Registrar-General's Office 13,000 29,926
8. Justice and Police 2,090,500 2,129,849