§ MR. CONYBEAREI beg to ask the First Lord of the Treasury whether it is the fact that, under the terms of the Reference to the Royal Commission on Mining Royalties, the Commissioners find themselves absolutely precluded from making any suggestions or recommendations whatever; whether it was the intention of the Government in framing the terms of the Reference to preclude them from making any recommendations in accordance with the evidence which might be adduced; and, if so, why; whether it is the usual practice in appointing Royal Commissions 1108 to limit them to the mere hearing of evidence; and whether he will consider the advisability of at once extending the scope of the Commissioners' functions to insure that some useful and practical result may accrue from their labours?
§ *MR. W. H. SMITHThe terms of the Reference to the Royal Commission on Mining Royalties were very carefully considered, and were communicated to Parliament before they were embodied in the Royal Warrant, and no suggestion has been made by the Commissioners that they find them to be inadequate. There is nothing unusual in the appointment of Commissions to investigate a question of this intricate character and to report the facts.
§ MR. CONYBEAREI should like to ask whether, when the Government, moved the terms of that Reference, they intended that the labours of the Commission should be absolutely without result?
§ *MR. W. H. SMITHI am not prepared to enter into an argument with the hon. Gentleman.