§ MR. EDMUND ROBERTSONI beg to ask the First Lord of the Treasury whether he anticipates any further legislation this session involving new expenditure; if so, whether he will undertake to lay before the House, when the money Resolution is proposed in Committee of Ways and Means, an estimate of the amount of such expenditure; and further, whether he will, in future, place the terms of the Resolution on the Paper so that they may be known to Members before the Resolution is moved.
ME. A. J. BALFOURI think experience has shown that it is impossible to ask a Minister in charge of a Bill in which there happens to be a money clause to give any estimate, worth having, to the House as to the actual expense the clause may involve. If we are to alter the existing system of dealing with money proposals in a Bill it should be in the direction of simplifying or abolishing that procedure rather than of making it more elaborate. It would not, therefore, be expedient to depart from the immemorial practice of the House.
§ MR. EDMUND ROBERTSONWill there be any further legislation involving new expenditure?
§ MR. A. J. BALFOURI cannot give any pledge as to legislation this session.