§ ME. PAUL (Northampton)To ask Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he will undertake that the discretion vested in the Treasury by the Act of 1866 shall not be used to prevent the Controller and Auditor-General from seeing any items of public expenditure which he may think it his duty, in the public interest, to examine.
(Answered by Mr. Asquith.) I am not aware of any case in which the Treasury has prevented the Comptroller and Auditor-General from seeing items of expenditure which ho thinks it his duty to examine. If such a case were to arise, I presume that the Comptroller and Auditor-General would report it to the Public Accounts Committee, who would deal with it on behalf of this House.