§ GENERAL SIR GEORGE BALFOURasked the Secretary to the Treasury, If, during the Recess, the Treasury will issue a Minute directing accounting officers of civil expenditure to attend to all requisitions of the Comptroller and Auditor General, so to state the account of their respective disbursements that all moneys spent be so detailed that Parliament may see the specific purposes to which grants have been applied; also that all lump sums voted by Parliament without details shall be explained by accounting officers in so clear and distinct a manner as will show the purposes for which used, and the individuals to whom paid; also, that where sums have been voted for one purpose, but used wholly or in part for other purposes, be also stated, in such detail as will expose the various payments?
§ LORD FREDERICK CAVENDISHSir, I am not aware of the requisitions of the Comptroller and Auditor General to which my hon. and gallant Friend alludes. I doubt whether it is desirable to increase the size of the volumes now presented to Parliament. The Comptroller and Auditor General, as the officer of Parliament, satisfies himself that money has been disbursed consistently with the intentions of Parliament, and he has the power of reporting variations, and of calling attention to any case in 95 which he may consider that sufficient information has not been furnished to him. The Reports of the Comptroller and Auditor General, and any recommendations or suggestions which he may make, are, as my hon. and gallant Friend is well aware, referred annually to the Committee of Public Accounts, and are carefully considered by them.