§ MR. GEORGE WHITE (Norfolk, N. W.)To ask the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether he will cause a Return to be made and presented to this House of all the several transactions of the Crown Agents for the Colonies for the year 1903, giving the nature and date of each transaction, the amount of money involved, the commission charged upon the several transactions, the salaries and fees of each person employed in this work, specifying any who receive any payment voted by this House, and such other information as will enable this House to judge of the system, nature, and cost of the business done by the Crown Agents.
1164 (Answered by Mr. Secretary Lyttelton.) A Return is being prepared in reply to the Address of the House ordered on the 2nd instant on the Motion of the hon. Member for Liverpool (East Toxceth), and a separate Paper is being prepared as to the Crown Agents' Office Funds, which has been promised in reply to a Question of the hon. Member for the Chesterfield Division of Derbyshire. These Returns will furnish a great deal of information of the kind referred to at the end of this Question, and it would be quite impracticable to give a Return of all the Crown Agents' separate transactions for any year. There is no person employed in the Crown Agents' Office who receives any payment charged on any Vote of Parliament, as the whole remuneration of the Agents and their staff is paid out of a fund derived from the authorised commissions and fees paid by the Colonial Governments for whom they act.