es. We are equally
uncertain whether any and what purely Irish services will be retained by
the Imperial Parliament, and charged on the Imperial Exchequer. And
lastly, the intentions of the Government in regard to the payment of a
subsidy from the Imperial Exchequer to the Irish Parliament, with which
rumour is busy, are as yet unrevealed.

In spite of this lamentable paucity of information as to the Government
plan, I think it can be safely said that no scheme even remotely
resembling any of those presented in connection with the two previous
Bills can be put forward now. Each of those schemes would involve the
Irish Parliament in a huge deficit from the very outset. Even if the
schemes were adapted to the changed modern conditions the same
impassable gap between available revenue and certain expenditure
remains. Those schemes presumably embodied principles which the
Governments of 1886 and 1893, and the Nationalist parties of those dates
regarded as adequate. It would be strange if it were otherwise, seeing
that an examination and comparison of the separate schemes can discover
no other consistent principles except the solitary one of juggling with
the revenues, expenditures, and contributions in such manner as would
start the Irish Parliament with a small surplus. In view of the
importance of these earlier attempts to secure an approximation to
financial equilibrium, it appears desirable to examine how Ireland would
fare in modern conditions under each of them.

The essential features of the 1886 scheme were as follows:--

1. Customs and Excise to be under the complete control of the Imperial
Parliament.

2. Irish Parliament to have power to levy any other taxes.

3. Ireland to contribute annually to the Consolidated Fund of the United
Kingdom.

(_a_) L1,466,000 for interest and management of Irish share of National
Debt.

(_b_) L1,466,000 for contribution to Imperial Defence.

(_c_) L110,000 for contribution to Imperial Civil Services.

(_d_) L1,000,000 for Irish Constabulary.

4. Contributions 3 (_a_) to 3 (_d_) were not to be increased for thirty
years, but might be diminished.

5. Irish share of National Debt to be reckoned at L48,000,000, and Irish
Sinking Fund to begin at L360,000, increasing by amount of interest
released on redeemed portion of debt.

6. Contribution to Imperial Defence and Civil Services not to exceed
one-fifteenth of the total cost in any year.

7. Irish contribution to be c