§ MR. JOHN WARDI beg to ask the Postmaster-General whether he is aware that the calculations of the Department as to cost of living in different towns have been made from a Report collected by the late Government in 1905; whether he is aware that such Report was laid before the Hobhouse Committee, and rejected by that Committee as unsatisfactory and unreliable in several important particulars, and that the Select Committee ordered a new and up-to-date investigation to be undertaken before the final classification of towns and, districts was made; whether it is proposed to make such inquiry; and whether classification will be delayed pending the results of the investigation recommended by the Committee.
§ MR. SYDNEY BUXTONThe Select Committee recommended in Paragraph 260 of their Report that the inquiry into the cost of living which began in 1905 should be continued and completed as soon as possible. This recommendation is being acted upon and the classification of towns is being completed as rapidly as possible. The classification already announced, and the final classification when announced, will, as I have already stated, be always subject to revision, as local circumstances change, or as any fresh information in regard to the cost of living in any particular place may alter the conclusion come to by the Board of Trade.
§ MR. JOHN WARDAm I to understand from that answer that a Report which was rejected by the Hobhouse Committee as inaccurate is the basis on which the right hon. Gentleman is fixing the status of offices?
§ Mr. SYDNEY BUXTONThat Report referred to only a few towns, a large number had been and are being examined, subject to correction by the Board of Trade.