DR. MACNAMAKAI beg to ask the First Lord of the Treasury whether, having regard to the fact that Viscount Esher, Admiral Sir J. A. Fisher, and Sir George S. Clarke reported, in February, 1904, that the financial methods of the War Office do not conduce to economy in peace and directly promote waste in war, he can state what reforms, if any, in War Office financial administration have since been inaugurated.
§ THE FINANCIAL SECRETARY TO THE WAR OFFICE (Mr. BROMLEY DAVENPORT, Cheshire, Macclesfield)It is not easy to state in brief compass all the reforms which have been carried out in the financial arrangements of the War Office and the Army since the Report of Lord Esher's Committee. The following statement will, however, give a general idea of what, has been done. Provision I has been made for the financial service of the Army in the field as well as in peace, and a new department for Army Accounts has been created. A system of decentralised accounting has been instituted, carrying with it the redistribution and decentralisation of work and staff to military districts throughout the Empire. Under this system a financial branch forms part of the staff of each general officer commanding in the various districts and will proceed with him to the front in case of war. A thorough system of financial examination and review is now in operation in respect of all contracts, whether made at the War Office or in the military districts. The same system will operate in the field in the event of war. The separation of Army stores and the allotment thereof to the Quartermaster-General and the Master-General of the Ordnance, respectively, has been arranged for. Some of the Army Votes have had to be remodelled in a form acceptable to the Treasury and to Parliament. The Quartermaster-General and the Master-General of the Ordnance now administer the Votes for those services for which they are responsible, and have in their branches members of the Accounts Department to advise them in financial matters. A standing Army Finance Committee to watch expenditure has been constituted and a detailed rearrangement of staff and work both for finance and for accounting has been carried into effect.
MR. GIBSON BOWLESasked whether he understood the hon. Gentle man to say that the contract branch of the War Office had been broken up and distributed among the various commands.
§ MR. BROMLEY DAVENPORTI did not say that. General officers in a district have always made their own contracts, and they will do so still 1333 They will, however, have a finance branch as part of their staff, which will, In the event of war, accompany them to the front. In the War Department itself the making of contracts has been divided between the military members who are immediately concerned, subject to what, I think, is absolutely necessary financial review.
§ SIR HENRY FOWLER (Wolverhampton, E.)Can the hon. Gentleman say what the additional cost of this new administration is likely to be.
§ MR. BROMLEY DAVENPORTI would not like to commit myself to saying whether there has been any considerable additional cost or if there has been, what it is. If the right hon. Gentleman desires the information I will endeavour to give it to him.