§ MR. CLAUDE HAY (Shoreditch, Hoxton)I beg to ask the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies whether he will state the years in which there were deficiences in the income of the Crown Agents' Office, the amount of the deficiency in each of the last tea years, and the reasons for the deficiencies in each year in which there was a deficiency.
§ MR. CHURCHILLThe following deficiencies in the income of the office of the Crown Agents for the Colonies have occurred during the last ten years—
| £ | |
| 1898 | 4,437 |
| 1899 | 3,173 |
| 1900 | 2,483 |
| 1901 | 23,720 |
| 1903 | 6,362 |
| 1904 | 5,265 |
| 1905 | 6,731 |
§ The usual cause of a deficiency is the fluctuation in the amount of commission received on loan business, which is very variable. The deficiencies in 1901 and 1903, were mainly due to expenditure on the new offices taken in the former year.
§ MR. CLAUDE HAYI beg to ask the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies, by what amount the Crown Agents' Office Reserve Fund has increased during the year 1907; and if he will state the main items which have led to the increase.
§ MR. CHURCHILLThe increase in the Crown Agents' Office Reserve Fund during 1907 amounted to £46,863. The main items were: Dividends on Investments, £12,280; commission on issue of loans, £17,422; and surplus income, £14,587.
§ MR. CLAUDE HAYI beg to ask the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies 1529 whether the salary drawn by the senior Crown Agent for the Colonies is considerably in excess of that paid either to the Permanent Under-Secretary of the Colonial Office or the Permanent Secretary to the Treasury; if so, what is the amount of the excess and the reasons for placing that office upon a higher rate of pay than that enjoyed by the last-named two officials; and whether, in all the circumstances, the Secretary of State will appoint an independent committee to inquire into and report upon the constitution, administration, and management of the office of the Crown Agents for the Colonies and the salaries paid to the officials thereof, to the end that it may be placed upon a footing in all respects with other departments of His Majesty's Civil Service.
§ MR. CLAUDE HAYI beg further to ask the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies whether the exhaustive inquiry instituted in 1901 by the right hon. Member for West Birmingham extended to the internal management and clerical organisation of the office of the Crown Agents; and, if not, whether he will himself institute an inquiry in this particular direction so as to satisfy himself on the head in question.
§ MR. CHURCHILLThe senior Crown Agent for the Colonies receives £2,500 a year. As I explained to the hon. Member on Tuesday last, the Crown Agents are not Civil Servants and the true position is to compare their salaries with those given to officials of great commercial and financial institutions. The Secretary of State associates himself with the views expressed by his predecessors upon the work and administration of the Crown Agents Office as an organisation distinct from the Colonial Office; but he will be glad to consider the desirability of appointing a small inter-departmental Committee to report upon the best method of selecting the clerical and technical staff for the Crown Agents' Office, and particularly to consider the conditions of tenure, the scale of payment of salaries and pensions, and how far the arrangements in that office are in accord or can be brought into harmony with the principles governing the Civil Service.
§ SIR GILBERT PARKER (Gravesend)Have the Government assured themselves that the kind of preference which is granted to British industries and merchant firms through the Crown Agents' Office is quite in harmony with the free trade policy of the Government?
§ MR. CHURCHILLasked for notice of the Question.
§ MR. REESWas it not necessary lately to give a personal allowance to a Crown Agent to enable him to occupy the higher position of Under-Secretary?
§ MR. CHURCHILLI should not like to say one way or the other.