§ MR. CANDLISHsaid, he would beg to ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, If he has ascertained, and can now state, the total cost of the War with Abyssinia which will have to be paid by the United Kingdom?
§ THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUERSir, I am sorry to say that I have not yet ascertained the exact cost of the war, as some of it still remains a matter of estimate. I will, however, state all I know on the subject. Mr. Turner, our agent, anticipates that the expenditure in India will be reduced to £6,800,000, but there may be charges and also credits that he does not take in. I cannot say, therefore, that I have ascertained the amount, although I do not think that the estimate I gave will be very much deviated from. The rest of the expenditure is as follows:—£461,000 paid by the War Office; £1,262,000 paid by the Admiralty; and £250,000 paid by the India Office. The total is £8,773,000. The House will remember that, on moving the Estimates on the 4th of March, I anticipated that the amount would be £8,763,000, and that in my financial statement I stated that it would be somewhat tinder £9,000,000. So that, on the whole, I am encouraged to hope I am pretty nearly right in the amount I have now stated.