Corpus of Electronic Texts Edition
The Peril of Home Rule (Author: Peter Kerr-Smiley)

Chapter 5

Financial Aspect Of Home Rule

The Financial aspect of Home Rule is important alike for taxpayers whether in Great Britain or in Ireland. Mr. John Redmond, in a speech which he delivered last May, endeavoured to prove that Home Rule would place no additional burden on British taxpayers. That can only be accomplished by placing burdens on Irishmen which will in a few years' time drive Ireland into bankruptcy. Ireland is the poorest partner, and she would be quite unable to bear the extra taxation Home Rule would entail. At the present time Ireland receives a great deal more out of the Imperial Exchequer than she pays into it, and Nationalists who have some knowledge of business have no hesitation in stating that the financial arrangements made by Mr. Gladstone in his two Bills would in a few years have landed the country in ruin. By the Bill of 1886 it was proposed that Ireland should pay one fifteenth of the Imperial charges. Mr. Gladstone was then immovable on this point, though in his second Bill he reduced the contribution during the committee stages to one-twenty-sixth. Parnell in

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1886 had insisted that Ireland should not pay more than one-twentieth of these charges.

Lord Morley writes:‘Even an hour or two before the Bill was actually unfolded to the House he (Parnell) hurried to the Irish Office in what was for him a rather excited state to make one more appeal to me for his fraction. It is not at all improbable that if the Bill had gone forward into Committee it would have been at the eleventh hour rejected by the Irish on this department of it.’’’

(Morley's Life of Gladstone. )

If the financial argument was one of the ‘knottiest points’ in 1886, it must be more difficult now owing to the legislation which has been passed in the interval involving large loans to Ireland as well as annual grants of considerable sums. It is quite impossible, as Mr. Gladstone found, to devise separate financial systems for the two countries without ruining Ireland or robbing England.

All the Customs payable at Irish ports were, under Mr. Gladstone's Bill, to go into the Imperial Exchequer. As they would not have benefited Ireland, there would have been a direct incitement to Irishmen to evade the Customs Duties. They would have argued, naturally enough, that there was no reason why they should impoverish themselves for the benefit of a wealthy country like England; and, with a friendly Government

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controlling all the Irish officials, smuggling would have become an easy matter. Home Rulers in England have never explained how they would have met the situation in case there had been a campaign against the payment of all taxes going into the Imperial Exchequer. In such circumstances there would only be two courses open — either forego the taxes or else withdraw Home Rule and re-establish the old power of the Imperial Parliament in Ireland. If the English Government in power was dependent on the Irish vote, Great Britain would probably have to do without the Irish Customs Duties.

The Nationalists want Home Rule not on Colonial terms, but under an arrangement whereby they shall call the tune and England pay the piper. They demand that Ireland shall be divorced from Great Britain, and, in true Hibernian fashion, they make the suggestion that the divorce shall be accompanied by a ‘wedding cheque’ for a substantial amount. A good deal has been written in recent years about the over-taxation of Ireland since the Union. In former years Ireland appears to have paid more into the Imperial Exchequer than she received out of it, but Lord MacDonnell, in an address which he delivered at Belfast on February 23rd, 1911, pointed out that between 1870 and 1900 the total revenue contributed by Ireland to the Treasury amounted to 104 millions, while there was expended upon Ireland during

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the same period 120.5 millions. For the ten years since 1900 the Irish contribution is set down at 15 millions, while expenditure upon Ireland during the same period reached 86 millions. These figures show that Ireland has been treated in a generous fashion by England since 1870. It is unreasonable to expect that this generous treatment would be continued if a Home Rule Parliament should be established.

The total Imperial expenditure has increased very considerably since 1885. In that year it amounted to £63,753,000, while in 1910 it had reached the grand total of £90,646,000. If Ireland is asked to pay one-fifteenth, as in Mr. Gladstone's first Bill, her contribution would now be £6,474,714, and immediately bankruptcy would stare her in the face. One-twenty-sixth of these charges would amount to £3,486,384. If we add to this the recent deficit of £2,357,500, we find that the Irish Parliament would have to begin its work by imposing extra taxation to the amount of almost £6,000,000 a year. This would mean bankruptcy in a very short time.

Outside the ranks of those who hope to hold profitable offices, it is very doubtful if there are a thousand individuals in Ireland who are willing to pay an extra shilling a year for the privilege of having a Parliament in Dublin.

From the very outset the question of finance would be a continual bone of contention between

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Great Britain and the Irish Parliament. Every increased tax would be attributed to the want of generosity of the British Parliament in the financial arrangement of Home Rule, and men who take little or no interest to-day in the Home Rule agitation, and who are loyal to the British Constitution, would become bitter agitators, animated by the feeling that it was owing to their relations with England that they had to pay increased taxes. This would put a powerful lever in the hands of those who are working for separation.

It is sometimes said that under Home Rule the Nationalist leaders would effect economies that are impossible now. But the way in which these men manage their local affairs affords no justification for such a belief. One finds that local taxation is very much higher in the Nationalist districts than in the Unionist districts, and the explanation is that Nationalists are elected not because of their business ability, but according to the degree of their ‘patriotism’! It is nothing unusual to find the rates in a Southern town double what they are in Ulster. Dublin has become notorious for its high rates and bad government. There is a large salary attaching to the office of Lord Mayor; no Unionist has been allowed to hold the office during the last thirty years, although Dublin Unionists pay at least one-third of the rates. The Nationalists as a rule have shown no capacity for managing business concerns. They have had a

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splendid opportunity in the management of the Freeman's Journal of showing how a business concern should be run. The Freeman's Journal is not only the official organ of the Irish party, but it is controlled by Mr. Sexton, who is represented as the wizard of Nationalist finance. Here is what a circular issued to the shareholders of the Freeman's Journal in January last states:
‘Within the last few months the ordinary shares (£3 paid) in the Freeman's Journal, Limited, have been dealt in on the Dublin Stock Exchange at the price of 9d. per share, and the preference shares of £5 each at 17s. 6d.’

If this is the best the cream of the Nationalist party can do, what may we expect from the ordinary members? Mr. Redmond has made the point that the cost of government is much higher in Ireland than in Scotland. That is quite true, but it is owing to the fact that the State does so much more for the people in Ireland than for the people in Scotland. Remedial measures such as land reform, agricultural education, and the improvement of the condition of the poor in the congested districts cannot be carried out without the expenditure of money. It is absurd, therefore, to protest against the expenditure which helps the poorer people in Ireland. It may be all right from a political point of view for the Nationalists to charge the British Government with extravagance,

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but they have never condescended to show how they would run the country cheaper. If one looks into the finances of Ireland, it will be seen that it is impossible to make any considerable reductions in expenditure without reducing the services which do so much to help the poorest class. If Mr. Redmond abolished all the primary schools, dismissed the policemen, ceased paying old-age pensions, wiped out the Department of Agriculture, and several other departments which have been created for the special benefit of the Irish people, it would be possible to reduce the Irish expenditure to the level of the most economically governed country in the world.

It would be interesting to know in what departments the Nationalists would effect economies. They dare not abolish old-age pensions, which constitute by far the heaviest item in the Irish expenditure. The amount for the present year is £2,408,000. Education costs £1,843,656. The Royal Irish Constabulary, it is true, costs over a million and a quarter, which seems excessive compared with £490,426 for the Scottish police force, but it is not necessary to break up the Union in order to reduce the cost of the police force. All the Nationalists have got to do to accomplish this desirable end is to live peaceable lives. Lawlessness, which is generally fomented by professional agitators, is responsible for the high cost of the police force. Home Rule would

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not lead to a reduction of the expenditure on the police. If there were no Unionists in the country at all, it would be necessary to maintain a large police force to keep the rival Nationalist factions from cutting each other's throats. With a hostile Ulster the Nationalists would find that, instead of reducing, they would have to increase the police force. Sensible Nationalists never put forth the argument that the cost of Government would be reduced under Home Rule, for they know it would not. For years the Nationalist agitators have been promising the people a new heaven and a new earth under Home Rule, and these people would insist on getting the promises fulfilled. The party is pledged to the nationalisation of the railways, which would mean the imposition of a heavy burden on the taxpayers.

The truth of the matter is that the finances of the two countries are so closely entwined that they cannot be satisfactorily separated. No financial scheme of Home Rule has yet been put forward that would be just to both countries. It must be remembered that in recent years Ireland has become indebted to Great Britain to the extent of over £100,000,000 for land purchase, and a large sum is still necessary for the same purpose. The moment a dispute took place between the two countries over financial matters nothing would be easier than to start a campaign against the payment of the land purchase instalments. If this

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should happen, how could the British Exchequer collect the amounts due? Even if Ireland was not asked to contribute any part of the Imperial charges, she would still have to increase her taxes, and the result would be that heavy additional burdens would fall on the industries of the country, which are mainly owned by Protestants. Business men in Ireland are under no doubt as to the evils that would follow Home Rule. Every time the question has become acute it has resulted in the depreciation of capital invested in Ireland. The men who control the capital and manage the industries of the country have no confidence in Home Rule.

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