I have referred in previous years to the reductions in the Estimates which it had been found possible to effect in this service, and, as will be seen, it has been considered practicable to further reduce the amount required. Although the decrease in the gross Estimate is approximately £18,000, the bulk of it represents reduced commitments in respect of charges under sub-head H for printing the registers of electors, etc., throughout the country, and as four-sevenths of this cost is repaid to the Stationery Office and credited to Appropriations-in-Aid, only a comparatively small saving in the net Estimate is secured. I might add here that the decrease in sub-head H is due to the fact that for the coming year, and the three following years, the Stationery Office and local authorities would secure the benefit of reprint rates on the registers set up under five yearly contracts in 1929-30.
Savings on sub-head J—that is, paper—amounting to £1,570, are due partly to the very favourable prices at which paper is now purchased and partly to a decline in the volume of paper required for public services. Under sub-heads F and G— that is, Oireachtas Printing, etc.— we have a reduction of £1,100. This is partly the result of economies which have been effected in the cost of printing and binding of Oireachtas debates, and partly it is due to reduced provision for meeting the charges which should arise on reprinting and binding into volume form the statutory rules and orders issued since 1922. The increases in sub-head A are mainly due to increments of salaries and wages. Coming to sub-head B, I might inform Deputies that the addition here is to provide for the purchase of a new van in replacement of one now almost six years in use, whose further repair is deemed to be uneconomical.
Under sub-head GG provision has been made for the purpose of reprinting for advanced students and for University use certain text-books not now available in late, middle and early modern Irish. A scheme will be drawn up with a view to selection of the most suitable books for the purpose. Under sub-head HH the scheme for which £900 was provided in the Estimates for last year has been extended in scope. The original intention was to revive certain weekly publications in Irish which, owing to financial difficulties, had ceased publication, and to assist others where it was shown, following investigation, that they were being carried on at a loss or were unable to establish themselves without assistance. Two publications have, as a result, been revived and one other has been assisted to keep going and enlarge its pages. A fourth, a quarterly publication, is being published for the first time with the assistance given, and two other cases, one a revival of a children's newspaper, are under consideration. The assistance takes the form of a grant, the extent of which is decided by a committee, towards the expenses of printing. This grant is paid by the Stationery Office on production of the printer's account and the voucher copies of the newspapers.
Part of the amount shown in this sub-head will, it is proposed, be used in the coming year for the payment to newspapers in the Gaeltacht and elsewhere for articles of local interest and reports of proceedings in Irish. The object in view is to promote the extension of printing in the Irish language in areas where Irish is largely the speech of the people. Coming to sub-head L, dealing with binding, I would point out that the actual expenditure in the year ending 31st March last, on this sub-head, is approximately £8,300, or £300 in excess of the amount voted, and it is hoped that the estimated figure of £8,570 will be found sufficient to meet the binding charges falling in the present year. Notwithstanding a reduction in the number of the more expensive bindings, the general binding charges tend to increase. This increase is due to the growth of new departments and the added activities of existing departments.
The Stationery Office Estimates as a whole do not call for any very detailed analysis. There has been, notwithstanding the progressive decline in expenditure, a considerable increase in printing and stationery services, partly arising out of additions to the services borne on the Stationery Office Vote and partly to the greater activities of existing services. The deliberations of the Oireachtas in the past three years have resulted in the passing into law of approximately 120 Acts, and as these have included such important instruments as the Industrial and Commercial Property (Protection) Act, the Land Act of 1927, the Betting Act, the Housing (Gaeltacht) Act, the Barrow Drainage Act, and the Creamery Act, it will be evident that the additions to the Stationery Office services have been considerable. A heavy printing programme is also proposed by the Ancient MSS. Commission for completion in the coming year.
In view of the fact that I am unable to point to any service of which the Stationery Office has been relieved in the same period, except the College of Science, which has passed to the National University, it is very satisfactory to note that considerable reductions have been effected with the co-operation of Departments in the matter of official requirements. These reductions have been not alone in the volume of stores supplies but also in the form and style of printing and binding. There have also been savings in production costs largely due to closer competition for Stationery Office purchases, the stencilling by the Stationery Office staff in lieu of printing of important documents such as minutes of evidence taken before Commissions, always a costly printing work, and of documents for internal use, of which limited quantities are needed. The general effect of these savings has been to more than neutralise the cost of additional services cast on the Stationery Office.
No statement from this Department would be complete that overlooked the important services carried out by it on a repayment basis. The cost of printing, binding and special supplies for such new services as the Currency Commission, the Agricultural Credit Corporation and the Electricity Supply Board; the printing, binding and publication of text-books under Vote 47, the publications in Irish, under Vote 49 and of the older repaying services, including payment for the insertion of all Government advertisements in the Press, it is estimated will exceed £20,000 in the coming year. To this amount should be added the Estimate of £2,250 referred to in the Appropriations-in-Aid, being the value of stock issues to repaying Departments. For these services the Stationery Office, it is estimated, will receive £1,600 as Appropriations-in-Aid as commission for Staff charges.
