MR. MACDONALD CAMERONI beg to ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether it is true that a new office, which will employ about 30 clerks, is being established in Somerset House, for the purpose of allocating the money received at post offices for the Excise licenses which have been transferred under the Local Government (England and Wales) Act to the several County Councils; and, if so, whether there are substantial grounds for not allowing the present staff of Excise officers to perform the work, seeing that they already perform it for the much larger sums of money collected for the same kind of 556 licenses by the collectors, supervisors, and distributors of Inland Revenue; and whether the work of allocating the money collected by the sale of licenses at post offices could be extended to the out-door officers of Excise, and thus saving to the public service?
§ * MR. GOSCHENThe hon. Member has been misinformed with regard to the manner in which the allocation of the license duty received at post offices is to be carried out. There is no intention, nor is there any necessity, to create a new office for the purpose, as the work in question will be performed by the existing staff.