§ MR. BURT (Morpeth)I beg to ask the First Lord of the Treasury whether he can now state the terms of reference to the Royal Commission on Mining Royalties, and the names of the Members who have agreed to serve on the Commission?
§ * MR. W. H. SMITHThe terms of reference to the Royal Commission on Mining Royalties will be as follows:—
To inquire into the amounts paid as royalties, dead-rents, and wayleaves on coal, ironstone, iron ore, and other metalliferous mines worked in the United Kingdom, and the terms and conditions under which those payments are made, and into the economic operation thereof upon the mining industries of the country; and, further, to inquire into the terms and conditions under which mining enterprise 124 is conducted in India, the Colonies, and foreign countries by the system of concession, or otherwise, and the economical operation thereof.The following gentlemen have been asked, or have intimated their readiness, to serve:—Lord Northbrook, Lord Macnaghten, Mr. Burt, M.P., Mr. Chisholm Robertson, Mr. W. Abraham, M.P., Mr. Josiah Thomas, Mr. S. Auldjo Jamieson, Sir W. Lewis, Mr. W. Cole Pendarves, Mr. Archibald Hood, Mr. N. Wood, M.P., Mr. John Knowles, Mr. D. Dale, Mr. G. Baker Forster, Mr. H. Hucks Gibbs, Mr. Kenrick, M.P., Professor Munro, Mr. T. R. Redington, and Mr. C. Whitmore, M.P.