§ MR. RYLANDSasked the Secretary to the Treasury, If he will arrange that the Annual. Report of the Deputy Master of the Mint for 1880 shall be placed in the hands of Members before the Vote 1932 for Expenses of the Mint is taken in Committee of Supply?
§ LORD FREDERICK CAVENDISHSir, the chief obstacle to arranging for an earlier issue of the Mint Report is that the reports of the branch Mints in Australia do not arrive in this country till some time in April. It is also usual to include in the Report a short statement of the coinage and currency arrangements of other countries during the past year. All that information cannot be got together and put into shape till about the middle of May, when the Report is generally laid upon the Table. I think it would not be desirable to publish it in a. less complete shape for the sake of a rather earlier issue, and if hon. Members wish that the Report should be in their hands before the Vote for the Mint is taken, the Vote can, of course, be deferred.