Irish Expenditure, 1892-3. (1) Civil Government charges (exclusive of Constabulary and salary of Lord-Lieutenant, but inclusive of local charges met out of local taxation account) £3,123,000 (2) Constabulary charges (£1,459,000) two-thirds of £973,000 (3) Estimated deficit on postal account £52,000 Total £4,148,000 Surplus £512,000 Total £4,660,000 The schemes of 1893 again illustrate the difficulties inherent in a severance of the two Exchequers. The revise left more points open for difference between the two Governments, and it had the serious defect of revision after the short interval of six years. The original scheme was far preferable. The retention of the Customs as the Imperial contribution reduced opportunity for conflicts of opinion to a minimum, and the interval of fifteen years before revision left ample time for the new Irish Government to put its house in order. I venture to think it would have been wise to make good the error in estimating the “true” revenue of Ireland (which invalidated the scheme) by an Imperial Grant, at all events for a time. Under the scheme the Imperial Government provided £500,000 for the constabulary. If it had granted £300,000 or £400,000 more, the net Imperial contribution derived from the Customs would have been reduced to say £1,400,000, not a large sacrifice for the end in view—reconciliation with Ireland. The Bill as amended passed the House of Commons but was thrown out in the Lords. This Parliament refused to accept Mr. Gladstone’s proposals to give Ireland Home Rule, and nineteen years elapsed before a third Home Rule Bill was submitted to Parliament. In the three schemes of 1886 and 1893 the Imperial contribution was very similar, perhaps somewhat larger in 1893. In all three schemes, also, the net gain to the British Exchequer was reduced by the grant from that Exchequer of £500,000 to the cost of the Irish Constabulary. The difficulty of devising a financial scheme fairly simple and workable, which was experienced in 1886 and 1893, has been disappointing, but not discouraging. It was inevitable but it can be surmounted. THE BILL OF 1912