CLASS IV.—EDUCATION, SCIENCE, AND ART. (Hansard, 7 August 1879)

§ MR. E. JENKINS
said, it was perfectly obvious that the sum which had been sot apart on account of this Exhibition would not be sufficient. The expense had been estimated at £10,000, and it was made up of items such as £200 for travelling expenses. The members of the Commission who would go to Sydney and Melbourne would certainly not pay their own expenses, and that sum would not nearly cover the cost. If they took the items there, it appeared to him that they were under-estimated. He wished to ask the hon. Gentleman the Secretary to the Treasury whether he could give any explanation as to why the expenses had been under-estimated? Subsistence and lodging allowance was put down at £180. If they might judge from the Paris Exhibition, persons who went about for Government charged as much as they possibly could for subsist-once, and he did not think that the sum of £180 would cover that expense. Then, the telegraphing and passages would cost two or throe times as much as they estimated. He should like some explanation as to the reason Government had not looked the matter fairly in the face, and had not put down the full amount?

§ SIR HENRY SELWIN-IBBETSON
said, that the amount estimated for these expenses was £10,000; but they only proposed to allow in the figures for the current year £6,280. With regard to the item of telegrams, he might say that it did not include the amount which would be paid for telegraphic communication with the Colonies, for the Government did not think that that ought to be an Imperial charge, but that, as it affected the interests of the Colonies, it ought fairly to be paid by them. With regard to the travelling expenses, the amount at which it had been put down was that at which it had been estimated by the members of the Commission themselves. The whole Estimate had been prepared to meet what it was thought would be the probable expenses.

§ MR. RYLANDS
wished to know whether the Government would, under any circumstances, grant a larger sum than £10,000?

§ SIR HENRY SELWIN-IBBETSON
said, that sum represented the part of the full amount that they believed would be required.

§ MR. E. JENKINS
did not think that that explanation was satisfactory. In his opinion, the expenses would more likely amount to the sum of £25,000. He did not think the House was fairly dealt with, when the amounts that should be required were so under-estimated.