§ MR. SLOANTo ask the Secretary to the Treasury whether, in view of the fact that the grounds of refusal of the Treasury to hold an inquiry into the case of the clerks to the surveyors of taxes was based on the grounds that all the facts wore fully known, and that no further inquiry would affect the judgment of the Treasury officials, he is aware it is an inquiry by a Select Committee of the House of Commons that is sought by the surveyors and their clerks; and whether, as the case of such clerks is better known to the surveyors than to the Treasury officials, and that they emphasise the hardship to the public that their confidential returns and claims of repayment of income tax should be dealt with by non-civil servants, he will, in the interests of the public themselves, consider the advisability of an independent inquiry being held by a Committee of the House of Commons similar to that granted to the postal officials.
(Answered by Mr. McKenna.) I see no grounds for such an inquiry.