§ MR. STANLEY LEIGHTON (Shropshire, Oswestry)I beg to ask the First Lord of the Treasury whether, in order that the House may be informed of the whole amount of taxation, local as well as Imperial, borne by the country, and of the distribution of the burden between real and personal property, he will arrange that a general statement on local taxation and debt, and on the increase and decrease of rateable values, shall be made this year in connection with the Budget; and, if not, whether, on some other occasion, a Ministerial Statement will be made on the growth of local expenditure and indebtedness, so as to afford the House a suitable opportunity of considering the subject?
§ THE FIRST LORD OF THE TREASURY (Mr. A. J. BALFOUR,) Manchester, E.I have consulted my right hon. Friends most directly concerned on the subject of this question, with every desire to meet the wishes of my hon. Friend if it should be found practicable. But I understand that the great complexity of local expenditure, the very large number (28,000) of the Local Authorities from which accounts have to be obtained, and the length of time necessarily involved in auditing these accounts, make it impossible to present to the House the expenditure of Local Authorities for the year preceding the Budget Statement.
§ MR. STANLEY LEIGHTONThe right hon. Gentleman has not answered the second part of my question—whether the Government will give the House an opportunity on some other occasion of considering this subject?
§ MR. A. J. BALFOURI understand it has been the practice in previous years to make some such statement as this upon the Second Reading of the Local Funds Bill; but that practice has been discontinued, and I am not aware that it met with any great favour in any part of the House.