asked the Minister for Finance if he will state in respect of each of the financial years 1950-51 to 1955-56 the amounts issued from the Local Loans Fund to each local authority indicating in each case the purposes covered by such loan issues.

Records of issues from the Local Loans Fund are not kept in a form which would enable the particulars sought by the Deputy to be readily extracted and I am not satisfied that the time and labour involved in their preparation would be justified. The Deputy will appreciate the magnitude of the task when I say that some 140 local authorities and about 8,000 advances are involved. Particulars of the annual issues from the Fund in the period and of the purposes for which they were made are given in the appended statement and I trust these will be of assistance to the Deputy.

Following is the statement:—

LOCAL LOANS FUND.

AMOUNTS ISSUED TO LOCAL AUTHORITIES (INCLUDING HARBOUR COMMISSIONERS AND VOCATIONAL EDUCATION COMMITTEES) IN THE PERIOD 1950/51-1955/56.

(a)Included in the figures for the Housing of the Working Classes and Labourers' Cottages.