§ MR. SETON-KARR (St. Helen's)asked the Attorney General a question of which he had given private notice—whether he now had any reason to correct the statement he made in Debate in that House on Tuesday last that the Committee could not place much reliance upon the figures given in the said Debate on the authority of Mr. Neison as to the burden of compensation imposed on the coalmining industry by the Workmen's Compensation Bill, because those figures did not correspond with figures previously supplied by Mr. Neison to Her Majesty's Government; also whether he still had any reason for stating that Mr. Neison had in any way altered the said figures?
§ THE ATTORNEY GENERAL (Sir RICHARD WEBSTER,) Isle of WightI am only too glad to have the opportunity of saying that when I spoke the other evening I had only one set of figures given me—namely, those given tinder date May 18 in the Report of the Labour Commission. Those figures in no way corresponded with the figures quoted by my hon. Friend. I did not know that within an hour or two afterwards there had been another Report respecting another coalfield, which accounted for the difference in the figures. Of course, had I known that, I should not have said that Mr. Neison had altered this figures. I drew the conclusion that the figures had been changed; but, of course, I wish now to withdraw the statement entirely. I wish to add, in order to avoid misunderstanding, that Her Majesty's Government do not consider that either set of Mr. Neison's figures support the conclusion drawn from them.
§ MR. SETON-KARRArising out of the Attorney General's answer, may I ask whether.the right hon. Gentleman will take into his careful consideration the figures of Mr. Neison to which I have alluded?