MR. GIBSON BOWLESI beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury whether he can state why no copies of the accounts of the national income and expenditure to 31st March last, which were supplied to and published in the daily newspapers of the following day, have been or are distributed to Members of this House; and why no copies of these accounts are obtainable at the Vote Office.
§ MR. AUSTEN CHAMBERLAINIn accordance with what I find has been the usual practice, copies of these accounts were not sent to the Vote Office on the 1st of this month, because the House was not then sitting, and Members would see the statement in the Press before they could receive it from the Vote Office. I have, however, given directions that copies of the last accounts shall be at once placed in the Vote Office, and that in future copies shall always be sent to the Vote Office, whether the House is sitting or not.
§ MR. AUSTEN CHAMBERLAINThat does not rest with me. I believe hon. Members can obtain them by signing the Pink Paper.