MR. BRYN ROBERTS (Carnarvonshire, Eifion)To ask the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether any account has been furnished to the Colonial Office of the expenditure of the £3,000,000 voted by this House for compensation to, and repatriation of, the Boers; whether such expenditure has been audited by any authority responsible to this House; if not, what safeguards have been adopted to secure the application of all the moneys to the purposes for which they were voted by this House.
(Answered by Mr. Secretary Lyttelton.) The account of the expenditure of £3,000,000 has not yet been furnished. The expenditure will be subject to audit by the Comptroller and Auditor-General, in accordance with the terms of the Vote, but this has not relieved the local Auditor-General of the duty of auditing these accounts in detail, and owing to the fact that the expenditure on repatriation includes very large amounts of loan money in addition to the grant, and to the exceptional circumstances, such as drought and cattle plague, which have greatly prolonged the work, it has not, understand, been possible to complete this Colonial audit. The hon. Member will find explanations in regard to this expenditure at pages 11 and 12 of Cd. 2104.