I want to call attention at the beginning to one entry which was discovered to be put down in an inaccurate way on the Vote of the Ministry of Justice. The same difficulty arises here. It is on page 218 of those Estimates in sub-head A in reference to a certain branch of the Department, "the proportion of the cost of messengers, cleaners and protective force in Government Buildings." The error, such as it was, was magnified out of all proportion. The words "and protective force" should have been italicised to show that the force no longer exists. It is clear that the difference between £312 this year and £723 for last year shows definitely that no money was being asked for the payment of these forces.
I should like to make a clear distinction at the beginning of this Vote as between the different sub-heads and to apportion the expenditure between one large item and all other items. It will be noticed that the net total given for this Vote for this year is £351,777. Deputies should keep that figure in mind as the net total, and make the following deduction: the Vote under sub-head L, contributions to the Unemployment Fund and to Special Schemes, £225,000, and add to that the sum set aside for the Employment branch, a total of £98,259, and make the additions I will mention to the total of these two. These items I am going to speak of represent in part an estimate of the amount of the various sub-heads debited to some matters in connection with unemployment insurance. Some of them are clearly for that purpose, and for no other purpose. It was estimated that two-thirds of the expenditure to be incurred under D is due to matters arising out of the administration of the Unemployment Insurance Acts. That is to say, two-thirds of that was £3,333. About two-thirds of sub-head C has also to be debited to the same cause, that is, a sum of £1,266. Again, two-thirds of the telegrams and telephones costs has to be taken, or a sum of £1,620. G is obviously in its entirety for the purpose of the Unemployment Insurance Acts. For that a sum of £1,500 must also be added in. The same remarks will apply to H— to M the full payment of £350, and to N the full payment of £150. In addition it is reckoned, but here there is less certainty, that one-tenth of the work of the statistics branch comes from the same quarter. That is, about £2,967 would be put into this addition. Two-thirds of the work in connection with the Finance and Establishment Branch are also to be debited to the question of unemployment. There is a Finance Branch, which is £10,500, and there is an item given as Establishment, £19,043. The Claims and Records is entirely unemployment. It is £19,852, and about £19,700, excluding Claims and Record Office. That is £39,500 between the two.
That would mean that there is from this Vote a sum of about £374,271 due to matters in connection with the Unemployment Insurance Acts. From that must be taken Appropriations-in-Aid: sub-head O (a) the whole of that £107,000; (b) the whole of the £125; and in (f), "Miscellaneous Receipts," £45 out of the £50 may be taken. From this Vote of £374,271 you must deduct Appropriations-in-Aid amounting to £107,170, so that the nett cost of the work and Exchanges in connection with the Unemployment Insurance Acts amounts to £267,100. If that be taken from the total Vote of £351,777, it leaves a sum of £84,676, which is the amount of the Vote for services other than those in connection with the Unemployment Insurance Acts. I can go into details again if any questions arise as to the appropriateness of the apportionment of any or all of that money in reference to the Unemployment Insurance Vote. It therefore comes to this, that £84,676 is the Vote being asked for for purposes other than those of the Unemployment Insurance Acts. I propose to take the work of the Department under the headings of the different branches, namely: Transport and Marine, Commerce and Technical, Industry and Statistics, and to show exactly what is the work that is being carried out which is estimated to cost the country this year £84,676. The Transport and Marine Branch is the first that calls for consideration, and I propose, in the briefest possible way, to give a general survey of the work done in the past financial year by this branch. It will arise under a different heading in connection with the general railway legislation and administration work in connection with the Railways Act, 1924. There fell to this Department the work of preparing and publishing the financial returns of the railway companies for the year 1924, and the returns in connection with railway accidents and casualties, which included the inspecting officer's inquiries and his reports on such accidents. There was attendance before and assisting at the Railway Tribunal in connection with the schemes for amalgamation and absorption; standard terms and conditions of the carriage of merchandise; regulations for addressing merchandise; forms of schedules, etc; and revision of classification of merchandise.
Figures had to be complied relating to the average nett revenue of the several companies comprising the Great Southern Railways Company for the years 1911-12-13, and these had to be submitted with reports thereon to the Railway Tribunal. The Castlecomer, Wolfhill, and Arigna colliery railways had to have their accounts and workings investigated, and certain matters, of which I spoke on the other Vote had to be inquired into in connection with claims for the acquisition of land in connection with Castlecomer and Wolfhill. A matter which was raised by a Deputy on the other Votes was also the subject of inquiry by the Transport Section, that is to say, investigation and attendance in respect of matters in connection with the baronial guaranteed railways. The financial position of the Great Southern Railways Company had to be examined and a report presented. There was an inquiry into the accounts and working of the Londonderry and Lough Swilly Company, including the three Government railways worked by that company, and in connection with which there may, and possibly will, be an additional Vote required for the purpose of carrying on these Government-owned railways worked by the Londonderry and Lough Swilly Railway Company. Claims for malicious damage on railways had to be investigated and reports made to the Compensation Commission. Work arose in connection with liquidation accounts arising under the British Government control of the Irish railway system. Agreements under certain sections of the Railways Act had to be examined into and then collated for the purposes of the Railway Tribunal. There was the ordinary general correspondence regarding transport charges, respecting which complaints have been forwarded by Deputies, and train facilities, in connection with which there is a great volume of correspondence, and, moreover, all sorts of miscellaneous inquiries can be made.
On the marine side, there was an investigation into various matters in connection with harbours, docks and piers, the receipt and examination of the annual accounts and sinking fund returns of various harbour authorities. There had then to be submitted to the Rates Advisory Committee appointed in 1925 under the Harbours, Docks and Piers (Temporary Increase of Charges) Act, 1920, applications for powers to increase the statutory charges. These applications came from Waterford, Galway, Wexford, and Youghal. Public inquiries were held in connection with the first three authorities. These inquiries had to be attended by representatives of the Department. An order was issued in the case of Waterford, and orders have been recommended in the case of Galway and Wexford, and the preparation of these is in hands. In the fourth case, that of Youghal, the matter is still before the Rates Advisory Committee. Work had also to be undertaken in connection with the Dundalk Harbour and Port Act of 1925, and a report had to be prepared and presented to the Oireachtas dealing with the Limerick Harbour Bill. There was then a public inquiry into the application for a Provisional Order from the Tralee and Fenit Pier and Harbour Commissioners on which a report had to be procured and considered. That application, incidentally, was not acceded to. Further to this there was general work in connection with the appointment of harbour commissioners and auditors, and miscellaneous applications for financial assistance.
The annual accounts and reports of accidents in connection with tramways had also to be undertaken. The examination of these accounts was a matter that lasted for a considerable portion of the year. The Dublin United Tramway Company's powers, and the Cork Tramways statutory charging powers, had been increased under the 1920 Act, so that consequently close attention had to be given to the financial results of these allowed increases and to the financial position of these undertakings. The Sligo and Belmullet steamer service, which was only taken over by this Department late last year, caused a certain amount of work which I detailed on the last Vote. Inquiries had to be instituted to see what were the effects, if any, in the working of that steam service, and of the alternative methods to provide the people of Belmullet with ready access to Sligo, and some method of getting supplies from Sligo. The investigation that I spoke of on Friday last is still pending. What the result will be I cannot forecast. This was a service that was taken over from the office of Public Works. When taken over it was found to be running on terms that it was felt the Oireachtas would not readily submit to for many years to come. Consequently an immediate inquiry was instituted, but, as I have said, the result has not yet been ascertained.
Then there is the matter of inland navigation. Certain matters fell for consideration, such as the proposed abandonment of the Ulster canal; the proposed abandonment of navigation on the Ballinamore and Ballyconnell canal; the third item I hesitate to mention, because I fear it is going to give rise to remarks outside the scope of what I intend. There had to be certain works by the transport branch in relation to the improvement of the Barrow navigation which I would distinguish from the Barrow drainage. In addition there is the question of the development of transport services on the Royal Canal. This would represent the ordinary administrative work of the officers of this Department, but there was, of course, work in connection with what is put down in the separate Vote, Vote 59, which we have just discussed —marine service. The differentiation which was made with regard to the two Votes is that Vote 59 deals with the out-officers in connection with this marine service. There is, of course, borne on the main Vote—Vote 56—the salaries of the headquarters people in connection with that.
There has been under consideration for many months, one might almost say for years, a piece of legislation which has been found to be much heavier than ever was anticipated, and that is the question of merchant shipping. There is some hope that that legislation may be ready for presentation in the autumn or in the winter of this year. It entailed a considerable amount of work on certain people in the Department and finally led to the appointment of extra help in the draftsman's office so as to have that legislation brought reasonably near. Legislation has been promised from time to time, and always without any proper forecast of what the burden of the work was. It was only recently that the full amount of work necessitated was really appreciated, and steps were taken to meet a further delay that seemed to be involved when the full burden of the work was realised. I cannot even yet say when that legislation will be ready, but it is certainly engaging a great deal of attention and is causing a tremendous amount of labour to those concerned with it.