REPORTS AND MINISTERIAL MOTIONS. - INVESTMENT IN DUBLIN CORPORATION STOCK.
JOSEPH MACDONAGH (Tipperary North) moved the motion standing in his name as follows:—
"That Trustees be appointed and authorised to take up from time to time from the Corporation of Dublin Stock issued by the latter under the Dublin Corporation Loans' Act, 1889, to enable the said Corporation to carry out works the cost of which is usually regarded as capital expenditure. The price to be paid for such Stock shall be £65 sterling for each £100 Stock so taken up. The Trustees are further authorised to make such arrangements with the Corporation as will secure the re-purchase by the latter of the stock at the earliest possible date, and for this purpose may arrange to hold said stock pending such re-purchase in which event it shall not be lawful for the Trustees to dispose of the stock in any other manner whatsoever. The price to be paid by the Corporation and accepted by the Trustees on the repurchase of the stock shall be that above mentioned as payable on the issue of the stock, namely £65 sterling for each £100 stock.
"It shall be the duty of the Trustees before taking up any stock to enquire into the purpose or purposes to which the proceeds of the issue of the stock are to be applied and the Trustees shall before taking up any stock satisfy themselves that such purpose or purposes is or are such as warrant the raising of money by loan for their accomplishment. They shall also be satisfied before taking up any stock that the Corporation shall have taken all the necessary steps to secure that the stock so issued and taken up shall be properly charged upon the rate and revenues of the City of Dublin. The total amount of stock to be taken up by the Trustees under this authority shall not exceed in any calendar year from the date hereof the nominal value of £300,000, nor shall the total amount of stock to be taken up under this authority exceed in the aggregate one and a half million pounds."
He stated that the Dublin Corporation was one of the most solvent in the world. If that Corporation accepted the offer of the English Local Government Board to provide money on loan and for housing purposes, they would not get the subsidy in lieu of rent namely, £1 7s. 6d. per £1. The interest on the English Loan would work out at 10½ per cent. Borrowing from that source would therefore mean a tremendous loss annually. If the Corporation got this loan, which was not a large one, it would be repaid at the end of 13½ years.
MICHEAL MACSTAIN (St. Michan's, Dublin) seconded the motion.
The FINANCE MINISTER said that he had been considering a suggestion that the sum of say £500,000 out of the proceeds of the Loan in U.S.A. should be put aside as a permanent investment so that that sum would be always available for carrying on the Government if anything extraordinary happened. He would strongly be in favour of investing money in such a scheme as the one proposed provided the money were available.
T. MACSUIBHNE (Cork Mid.) stated that the question of providing money affected all local bodies. He would like to see the whole question considered.
The motion was negatived without a division.