§ MR. FIELD (Dublin, St. Patrick)To ask Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he will advise the appointment of a Committee or Commission to investigate the methods under which the Treasury Returns of Local and Imperial Expenditure are classified, in order to enable the correct proportion of British and Irish taxation to be arrived at more easily than under the present system.
(Answered ly Sir M. Hicks Beach.) This is not a matter which, in my opinion, could properly be referred to a Committee. It would have formed part of the inquiry by a Royal Commission to which the political party to which the hon. Member belongs declined to assent some years ago, but I am not prepared to advise the appointment of a Commission on the matter named in the Question.