§ "That a sum, not exceeding £1,905,200, be granted to His Majesty, to defray the Expense of Works, Buildings, and Repairs, at Home and Abroad, including the cost of Superintendence, Purchase of Sites, Grants-in-Aid, and other Charges connected therewith, which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of March, 1906."
§ Resolution read a second time.
§ MR. WHITLEY (Halifax)said he intended to move a reduction of £10,000 upon this Vote. A long discussion ensued when this Vote was considered in Committee because they were not able to make certain figures agree. After the interval which had taken place he hoped the representative of the Government would be able to make those figures come into harmony one with the other. The first item he wished to refer to was a large sum to be expended at Whale Island. He asked a Question on the point in Committee, and he was informed that £4,000 was taken last year for this purpose without the authority of the 780 House, with the result that they were led into an expenditure of £30,000 or £35,000 without any decision having been come to in the House in regard to it. He wished to protest against that method of procedure. What was the use of having Vote 10 and Naval Works Bills when they found large expenditures of this kind entered upon by a Department going quietly to the Treasury for authority to spend a small sum and then coming to the House and telling them that as the work had been started they must have a larger sum to finish it. That was an instance of the loss of control of the Treasury which had come about in recent years over the expenditure of the various Departments. He hoped the Secretary to the Treasury would put on his sternest manner, if he had one, when these Departments came to him asking for money. Whenever any of these Departments came to the hon. Gentleman in this way he should insist that the matter must be decided upon by the House before any expenditure was incurred. There were dozens of cases of this kind in the Estimates, and even the Comptroller and Auditor-General had to spend a large amount of his time protesting against expenditure of this kind.
Another item he wished to protest against was the proposed expenditure in regard to Wei-hai-Wei. The case was quite strong enough against this expenditure during the Committee stage, but 781 surely the events of the last few days had made the case stronger still against incurring any further expenditure at Wei-hai-Wei, for they did not know whether at the end of the present financial year they would be in possession of the place or not. Wei-hai-Wei was granted to them on a lease so long as the Russians held Port Arthur, but they did not hold Port Arthur to-day. He thought the Government ought to wait until the end of the war to see whether some other arrangement would be made. What folly it was to spend £6,000 upon dredging this bathing establishment which might not be theirs even for bathing purposes at the end of the financial year. With regard to the residence for the Commander-in-Chief at Chatham, would the Secretary to the Admiralty furnish the House with a plan in order that they might see the kind of palace that was being built for this purpose. Since he referred to this topic upon a previous occasion he had obtained a good deal of evidence confirming what he then said.
And, it being half-past Seven of the clock, Further Consideration of the Resolution stood adjourned until this Evening's Sitting.