§ MR. BOORD (Greenwich)asked the Secretary of State of War, What amount 582 has been included in the Estimates for the purpose of defraying the cost of the investigation of the accounts of the War Office Manufacturing Departments by the professional accountants who were appointed last year; what is the general nature of their Report; and, particularly, whether they have pronounced an opinion on the system of account hitherto adopted in those Departments, as to whether it has or has not shown the accurate cost to the country of the productions of the Government Factories at Woolwich and. elsewhere?
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE (Mr. E. STANHOPE) (Lincolnshire, Horncastle)The charge referred. to will fall upon the Estimates of this House, and I have no information as to the amount involved. The Report of Messrs. Whinny and Waterhouse will be published in the Appendix to the Report of the Committee on the Army Estimates; and I would prefer that hon. Members should deduce their own conclusions as to the general nature of the Accountants' Report. With regard to their opinion on the system of account hitherto adopted in the Manufacturing Departments, I will make the following short quotation from their Report:—
The accounts of the Manufacturing Establishments are, as a rule, kept with care, and show, with as much accuracy as is needful, the cost of the articles manufactured.