MR. GIBSON BOWLES () Lynn RegisI beg to ask Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he is aware that in the accounts of the expenditure under the Military Works Act, 1897, the account of the expenditure for rifle ranges and manœuvring ground—which is estimated at a total of £950,000, and in respect of which the total expenditure to 31st March, 1898, was £354,872 7s. 3d.—contains no separate items whatever, but only the total expenditure as represented l)y the latter sum; whether this item includes expenditure on the purchase of land on Salisbury Plain; and whether, seeing that the Act requires that those accounts shall be delivered in the form required by the Treasury, he will require that the account of the expenditure in respect of rifle ranges and manœuvring ground for 1898–9 shall be so rendered, and with such items and details, as will enable the Controller and Auditor General and the Parliamentary Accounts Committee to which he reports to examine the expenditure in question.
§ THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER (Sir M. HICKS BEACH,) Bristol, W.The answer to the two first paragraphs of the question is, yes. Full details of the expenditure on rifle ranges and manoeuvring ground up to 31st March, 1898, were supplied to the Controller and Auditor General at the time; but the separate items as to rifle ranges were not stated it) the account laid before Parliament. The details of the Salisbury Plain expenditure were laid before Parliament in Paper C.9,032 of 1898; and more complete details have been subsequently given in two other Returns. The account for 31st March, 1899, has been presented though not yet circulated. This shows all the details of expenditure on rifle ranges for both years ending 31st March, 1898, and 31st March, 1899.