§ MR. HAROLD COX (Preston)I beg to ask the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies whether his attention has been called to the estimate by the recent Australian Royal Commission on Old Age Pensions that the annual cost to the Commonwealth of a general system of old age pensions would be £1,500,000; what is the sum now expended annually by the Commonwealth on military and naval defence; and what would that sum be if the inhabitants of Australia bore the same burden per head for their own defence, and for the defence of the Empire, as is borne by the inhabitants of the United Kingdom.
§ THE UNDER-SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE COLONIES (Mr. CHURCHILL,) Manchester, N.W.I have seen the estimate referred to. The expenditure in Australia on military and naval defence is rather over £1,000,000 a year, and would be about £6,000,000 if the payment per head of the population were the same as in this country.