§ MR. DAVID THOMAS (Merthyr Tydvil)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether the composition of the recently appointed Coal Commission and the terms of reference thereto were communicated to a section of the Press before Royal sanction had been given and before publication had been made in the official gazette; and, if so, whether such is the usual practice.
§ * MR. RITCHIEThe Home Office was not responsible for the communication to the Press of information about the Royal Commission on coal supplies, but I understand that no such communication was made before the Royal Assent had been signified. It is not the practice, and it would be obviously inconvenient, to defer publication until after the notice occurs in the gazette. In accordance with the usual practice arrangements had been made for giving the information to all newspapers simultaneously, but as a matter of fact some of them received it earlier than others. This was entirely due to an oversight.