No. 10. The vote of £415,000 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 £166,000 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 £200,000, as well as other small miscellaneous grants. But it includes a sum of about £44,000 for some museums, colleges, gardens, etc., whose English counterparts are subsidized under different votes, as well as the sum of £144,000 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 £41,250, 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.
££
1. Relief of Distress5,000183,675
2. Pauper Lunatics Grant—111,655
3. Teachers' Pensions Grant—90,000
4. Railways (Ireland) Grant61,000341,934
5. Local Government Board92,500132,748
6. Chief Secretary's Offices27,50039,681
7. Registrar-General's Office13,00029,926
8. Justice and Police2,090,5002,129,849
2,289,5003,059,468

Most of these reductions are deceptive. No. 1 is the saving of an abnormal grant, Nos. 2 and 5 signify mere transfers to Grants in Aid of Local Taxation, No. 7 a transfer of duties to the Department of Agriculture.

The table shows a total reduction of £769,968, while Table A shows a total increase of £6,130,000. Together they account for an increase since 1891-92 of £5,360,032.

Here is a similar table, confined to Justice and Police:

C. EXPENDITURE ON JUSTICE AND POLICE.
1910-11.1891-92.
££
1. Judicial Salaries102,000110,244
2. Dublin Metropolitan Police93,50091,998
3. Royal Irish Constabulary1,371,0001,362,348
4. Judicial Pensions, etc.15,00018,656
5. Law Charges65,50071,977
6. Superior Courts Offices110,500116,851
7. County Courts Offices109,000112,895
8. Prisons, etc.112,000134,429
9. Reformatories, etc.112,000110,451
2,090,5002,129,849

To Nos. 1, 2, and 3 I have already referred. The whole charge of two millions, though it shows a slight decrease in twenty years, is grossly out of proportion to the resources of Ireland. Under heads 6 and 7 are included a number of posts which are notoriously little more than sinecures.