MR. A. SMITHsaid, he rose to call attention to the delay in presenting the 1929 Civil Service Estimates. Although the House had been sitting six weeks, no progress had been made with these Estimates. Last year Parliament met in the first week of February. On the 15th of the same month the hon. Member for Norfolk (Mr. Bentinck) asked when the Miscellaneous Estimates would be produced. He was told they would be ready in a fortnight. That promise was not fulfilled, and on the 7th of March the hon. Baronet (Sir S. Northcote) repeated the question. The hon. Secretary to the Treasury stated that he would not fix the time. On the 19th the hon. Baronet said it was highly desirable the Miscellaneous Estimates should be laid on the table before the Easter recess. They were then promised for the following Friday. The House rose that very day for the recess, and although the Estimates were laid on the table on that day they were not printed until the House re-assembled on the 11th of April. They were supplied to the House separately and at intervals, and it was not until the 19th of April, nearly a month after, they were laid on the table, that the Estimate No. 1 made its appearance. He was afraid a similar course was about to be pursued this year, but he was glad to see that soon after he had placed his Motion on the paper part of those Estimates had been laid on the table and some had been printed. Perhaps the Government would state when the others would make their appearance. The Select Committee on Public Monies, on Miscellaneous Expenditure, and on Public Accounts had all recommended that the Miscellaneous Estimates should be laid on the table as soon as possible after Parliament met, and the House had a right to know whether the Government intended to carry out these recommendations. He believed that all balances of a former year would not now be applied to a subsequent year, and that was an additional reason for expedition. On comparing the dates, however, there did not appear to have been any greater expedition that year than during the last.
§ THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUERsaid, he would remind the hon. Gentleman that a decision having already been taken upon the question that the Speaker should leave the chair, his Resolution could not be entertained, according to the forms of the House; but that was no reason why an explanation of the points on which the hon. Member desired to be informed, should be refused. The 1930 principle, no doubt, was a sound one, that the Miscellaneous Estimates should be prepared as early as possible, and discussed with deliberation while the House was full. There were, however, important limiting considerations interposing considerable difficulties, which could only be gradually overcome. It was true that the Naval and Military Estimates were laid on the table within a week after the meeting of the House; but they were Estimates prepared within the departments to which they referred. The Miscellaneous Estimates, on the other hand, were of the most varied and diverse character, and the Treasury were dependent not only upon public departments for their production, but also on Members of Commissions, the governing bodies of Institutions, and even on others who gave their gratuitous services to the public. The Treasury had to enter into correspondence with these persons; it was sometimes necessary to see them on the business of the Estimates; and these interviews could not he obtained except when people usually came to London. He could not affirm, therefore, that it would be possible to present the Miscellaneous Estimates with the same regularity and certainty as the Military and Naval Estimates. At the same time, he agreed that it was the duty of the Government to endeavour to overcome the difficulties which now caused delay, and that the Government were endeavouring to do. It must be remembered the Government had no power to fix the time when, if ready, the Miscellaneous Estimates would be considered. There was no fixed time even for the Military and Naval Estimates; and as for the Miscellaneous Estimates, they had to take their chance. They were elbowed about by the mass of public business, and they were taken when the Government could get a night. In cases when the House was not able to consider them until the month of June it was not desirable they should be laid on the table in February, because during so long an interval they would require in many respects to be altered. It was most desirable that the time of their preparation and introduction should have a certain reference to the time when the House would be able to consider them. He trusted, therefore, that no attempt would be made to bind the Government by a stereotyped Resolution. If the House laid down a fixed rule that the Treasury should present the Miscellaneous Estimates within a fortnight, 1931 for example, after the House met, the Treasury would do it. But the effect would be that the Miscellaneous Estimates would be imperfect, and the practice of presenting supplementary Estimates—one of the greatest financial evils the House could endure—would of necessity prevail. With respect to the public balances, he proposed to take the Vote on the Miscellaneous Estimates, subject to the condition that the balances would, as he hoped, be surrendered next year.
§ Main Question put, and agreed to.