§ MR. D. A. THOMAS (Merthyr Tydvil)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury if he will give particulars of the precedent for the payment of the sum of £19 16s. to a Newcastle Emlyn bailiff in respect of expanses incurred in obtaining special bidders, with a view to their attending sales of chattels distrained for tithes; and whether, since the Treasury determined to discontinue the sanctioning of fees given to paid puffers at auctions, any circular has been issued to notify that no such claim will in future be entertained?
§ MR. HANBURYThe precedent was a case in the year 1892, in which payment was made to two bidders for attending for the purpose of buying goods at a sale held at Glandwr farm, in the parish of Llanfirnach. No payment of the kind has been made since the case at Newcastle Emlyn in February, 1895. No such payment can be passed without Treasury sanction, and the Treasury have placed on record their view—which has been communicated to the Public Accounts Committee—that the service was not one constituting a proper charge on public funds, and that, if such services were required in any future case, they must be paid for by the parties interested in the proceeds of the sales. The issue of a circular has not, therefore, been considered necessary.