§ MR. CHIOZZA MONEY (Paddington, N.)I beg to ask the President of the Board of Trade whether he is aware that the salaries of the Railway Commissioners amount to £15,000 a year, and their expenses to £6,000 a year, and that the Railway Department of the Board of Trade, including salaries, travelling and legal expenses, but excluding rent and printing, costs nearly £13,000 a. 135 year, making a total expenditure of about £34,000 a year almost entirely on account of railway regulation; whether he is aware that British traders are constantly complaining of high rates and insufficient regulation; and whether he will consider the advisability of converting State regulation into State control, as practised in British India, Germany, Japan, Switzerland, Italy, Belgium, Australia, New Zealand, and elsewhere.
§ MR. LLOYD-GEORGEI am unable to understand how my hon. friend has arrived at his figures. The total of £6,140 which I gave as the expenditure of the Railway and Canal Commission includes salaries. I may point out that the three Commissioners ex officio, who are Judges, receive no addition to their judicial salaries in respect of their work on the Commission. My hon. friend has further given insufficient weight to the fact, to which I called his attention, that a considerable deduction must be made from the cost of the Railway Department of the Board of Trade in respect of work not connected with railways. Such deduction should probably be at least two-fifths of the total cost of the Department. I fear I cannot undertake to deal with the large question of policy which he raises in a reply to a Question.