§ MR. HAROLD COX (Preston)I beg to ask Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he is aware that the expenditure upon public works and buildings has increased from £1,889,000 in 1898–9 to £3,029,000 in 1908–9; and whether, in view of this growth in so short a period, he will follow the precedent set in the appointment of the Publications Committee, which has already effected large savings in the Stationery Vote, and ask the House to appoint a Select Committee to examine the expenditure upon public works and to report from time to time whether any economies can judiciously be effected.
§ MR. CHARLES HOBHOUSEMy right hon. friend is fully aware of the usefulnesss of the work done by the Select Committee on Official Publications; but the services provided for in the Vote for Stationery and Printing and in the Vote for Public Works and Build- 1664 ings are very dissimilar, and he is inclined to doubt whether the advantage to be obtained would justify the labour involved by adopting the suggestion of his hon. friend.
§ MR. HAROLD COXI beg to ask Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer whether his attention has been called to the recommendations made by the Select Committee on National Expenditure that the Treasury should at fixed intervals, perhaps once in five years, exercise the right which they already possess to overhaul and systematically revise the staff of the various departments, and that an Estimates Committee should be appointed continuously in the same way and possess the same powers as the Public Accounts Committee; and what steps have been taken, or will be taken, to give effect to these recommendations.
§ MR. CHARLES HOBHOUSEMy right hon. friend will give further consideration to the suggestion made in the first part of the Question; but, as at present advised, he feels great doubt whether the inquiries recommended would produce any result commensurate with the time and labour which would be involved. As regards the latter part of the Question, he cannot at present add anything to the reply given by the late Prime Minister to the hon. Member for the Keighley Division on the 18th June last.