ENGLISH POLITICAL HISTORY 507 



Mr. Asquith introduced the Government of Ireland Bill in the House of Commons 

 on April n, 1912. He laid particular stress on its being intended to be the first step 

 towards Parliamentary devolution and a system of federalised parliaments 

 The Home w jthin the British Isles, and on its maintaining the supremacy of the Im- 

 1912. ' perial Parliament at Westminster over the new Irish Parliament equally 

 -i; v with any that might later be set up in other divisions of the Kingdom. The 

 essence of the Bill was that in Ireland an Irish Parliament and Irish Executive should 

 be responsible for exclusively Irish affairs. Instead of saying precisely what these affairs 

 were, the Bill specified what were the Imperial affairs which the Irish Government could 

 not deal with, including certain Irish matters (Clauses) " reserved " to the Imperial 

 Government, There would be two Houses, an elected House of Representatives of 

 164 members (of whom, an the existing basis, 39 would probably be Unionists); and a 

 nominated Senate of 40 members, on which Mr. Redmond's view was that there would 

 thus be the opportunity to secure the inclusion of Irish public men of eminence, without 

 reference to their party colour. In case of a conflict between the two Houses they would 

 sit and vote together. For Imperial purposes Ireland would still be represented at 

 Westminster, but only by 42 members, subject to a special provision (Clause 26) for 

 increasing this number in case the question of altering the financial relations should 

 arise at some future time, and purely for that purpose. The acts of the Irish Parliament 

 would be subject to veto or postponement by the Imperial Executive or Parliament, 

 disputes as to their validity being adjudicated on first by the Irish Court of Appeal and 

 secondly by the Privy Council. It might not enact privilege or disability, endowment 

 or deprivation, for any form of religion, or make any religious belief or ceremony neces- 

 sary to the validity of marriage. Irish taxes would be settled by the Irish Parliament 

 but would continue to be collected (together with such Imperial taxes as remained) by 

 the Imperial Government, and an annual sum corresponding to the cost of Irish services 

 at the time of the passing of the Act would be " transferred " to the Irish Exchequer 

 under the administration of a Joint Exchequer Committee, together with a grant 

 beginning at 500,000, to be reduced as circumstances permitted; practically this meant 

 an annual subsidy of 2,000,000 from the Imperial Exchequer. The " transferred sum " 

 would provide a security on "' which the Irish Government could raise loans. The 

 financing of Old Age Pensions, National Insurance, the Post Office Savings Bank, and 

 the Royal Irish Constabulary, was reserved temporarily to the Imperial Exchequer, 

 but the Irish Post Office (with the patronage attaching to it) was made a separate service 

 under Irish administration. The powers given to the Irish Parliament to deal with 

 Customs and Excise as well as other taxation contemplated the setting up of Irish 

 custom-houses independently of Great Britain, and (within certain limits) the possibility 

 of varying duties as between goods imported into Ireland or into Great Britain ; and as 

 the collection was to be made by the Imperial Government, and allowances for the Irish 

 levy to be made to the Irish by the Imperial Exchequer, the procedure was necessarily 

 rather complicated. . The finance of the Bill was indeed admittedly and necessarily 

 provisional, complete data being unavailable, in spite of the Government's having had 

 the advice of a Committee of financial experts, whose report however was not disclosed. 

 For 1912-13 it was estimated that the' revenue derived from, and the expenditure 

 incurred in, Ireland would be as follows, showing a deficit of 1,515,000. 



Revenue. Expenditure. 



Customs . 

 Excise 

 Income Tax 

 Estate Duties 

 Stamps. 

 Miscellaneous 

 Post Office, 



3,230,000 Not separately specified . . k > .< 



3,320,000 Post Office . . : , -;.-: . . . .. .j 



1,512,000 Old Age Pensions . . . .,:,.:. 



939,000 : Charges for Land Purchase . *; .. : -i 



347,ooo ;; Nat. Insurance and Labour Exchanges 



I 37,oo Royal Irish Constabulary 



5,462,000 

 1,600,000 

 2,664,000 

 761,000 

 191,500 

 i,377,5oo 



i,354,OOO Collection of Revenue . .::,.;;./.. 298,000 



Total . t^;.. 10,839,000 Tot^l . . . *>:..;;.- .;. :-.- . 12,354,000 



