§ MR. LUNDONOn behalf of the hon. Member for the St. Patrick Division of Dublin, I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury, whether, seeing that a permanent audit office staff is established at Devonport, any public inconvenience results there from in the way of exercising direct supervision of the work performed, and of personal conference between the Comptroller and Auditor-General and the officers engaged upon it; and, if not, seeing that Devonport is nearly as far from London as Dublin, whether he is prepared to make arrangements to have a similar permanent audit office staff in Dublin.
§ *THE FINANCIAL SECRETARY TO THE TREASURY (Mr. ELLIOT,) DurhamPublic inconvenience undoubtedly results from the impossibility of exercising direct supervision of the audit work performed at Devonport and other dockyards, and from the absence of opportunity for personal conference between the Comptroller and Auditor-General and the officers engaged upon it. But it would be still more inconvenient to the public service to remove the books from the dockyards to London.
§ MR. LUNDONOn behalf of the hon. Member for the St. Patrick Division of Dublin, I beg to ask the Secretary 413 to the Treasury whether, seeing that less than £500 of the Exchequer and Audit Vote is expended in Ireland, and that it is found to be in the interests of the public service to have an audit office staff permanently employed at Devonport Dockyard, a long distance away from headquarters in London, he is prepared to make arrangements to have a proportionate share of this Vote spent in Ireland by establishing a similar permanent audit office staff in Dublin.
§ MR. ELLIOTFor the reasons stated in reply to similar Questions on the 29th June last,† it is not proposed to establish a permanent audit staff in Dublin.