I move:—
Go ndeontar suim breise ná raghaidh thar £11,000 chun íoctha an Mhuirir a thiocfaidh chun bheith iníoctha i rith na bliana dar críoch an 31adh Márta, 1943, chun Tuarastail agus Costaisí Oifig an Aire Tionnscail agus Tráchtála, maraon le Seirbhísí áirithe atá fé riaradh na hOifige sin.
That a supplementary sum not exceeding £11,000 be granted to defray the Charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending 31st, March, 1943, for the Salaries and Expenses of the Office of the Minister for Industry and Commerce, including certain Services administered by that Office.
The increase in sub-head A is due to an unanticipated expenditure arising in connection with the compilation of the register of population, the administration of Emergency Powers Order No. 166, and the additional cost-of-living bonus payable to certain classes of civil servants, messengers, cleaners, and the like, as from 1st January, 1943. The increased expenditure under sub-head C is due to a greater expenditure in advertising during the course of the year. Sub-head L (3) relates to advances to the Mineral Exploration and Development Company, Limited. Under the Act by which that company was established repayable advances may be made to a limit of £50,000. Advances to a total of £9,814 had been made prior to 1st March, 1942, and the Estimate for that year provided for additional advances to a total of £30,000. In fact, the company found it needed £39,000 during the year. The additional £9,000 expenditure arose, first, in connection with capital expenditure upon the development of the phosphate-bearing area in Clare, which was higher than anticipated; secondly, because of the urgent necessity of providing the manufacturers of artificial manures with a supply of sulphur ores the company speeded up the development of the programme in the Avoca area and incurred an expenditure in this financial year which it was anticipated would not have to be made until 1943-44; and also because during the year certain exploratory work was undertaken upon a deposit of iron ore which had been located.
Sub-head LL provides money to enable the Geological Survey to remove surface drifts and expose underlying rock formations for the purpose of establishing whether a mineral deposit is worth prospecting on an extensive scale. In the main Estimate for the year only a nominal sum of £5 was provided for that, but, in fact, a sum of £100 was found necessary. This was due to the fact that the Geological Survey found it desirable to investigate two mineral deposits. One of these was a deposit of molybdenite at Murvey, County Galway, and involved an expenditure of £80. The second was a deposit of lead ore at Hollymount, County Mayo, on the examination of which £20 was expended. In both cases it was decided, as a result of examination, that extensive prospecting operations should not be undertaken.
The only remaining item in the Supplementary Estimate is that for Appropriations-in-Aid. When the main Estimate was being prepared a national figure of £10 was estimated as the amount likely to be received in respect of fees payable under the Trade Loans Guarantee Act, 1939, in respect of loans guaranteed. In fact, because of one guarantee of £200,000 given to Irish Steel, Limited, the fees payable, which are calculated on a rate of one half of one per cent. of the amount guaranteed, amounted to £1,000. That explains the increase recorded in the Appropriations-in-Aid.