§ MR. WILLIAM JONES (Carnarvonshire, Arfon)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for India whether he can state the present salaries for the auditor of the India Office and of his deputy; whether those salaries have been recently increased, and, if so, when and on what grounds; what is the total cost of the auditor's department, and what relation that cost bears to the amount to be audited; what is the total number of queries raised by the auditor in the last five years, and what is the total sum involved in those queries.
§ LORD G. HAMILTONThe salaries of the auditor and of his assistant are respectively £1,200 and £800, rising to £1,000. They were increased to these 906 amounts in February, 1900, on the ground of the importance of the duties performed, and with due regard to the salaries paid for services of similar importance elsewhere. The total cost of the auditor's department, which was created by Act of Parliament, is about £7,000 a year; the sums which he has to audit amount to nearly eighty millions sterling annually. The total number of queries raised by the auditor during the last five years is 1,270; but this fact gives no indication whatever of the extent or importance of the duties performed by him.