§ MR. HAROLD COXI beg to ask the Secretary of State for War whether he is aware that in the Memorandum accompanying the Army Estimates a comparison is made between the estimated expenditure of the current year and the estimated expenditure of the year 1905–1906, although the latter Estimate was no less than £1,335,000 in excess of the actual expenditure; whether it is the custom in the War Office to base the Estimates of a future year upon the inaccurate Estimates of past years; and whether he anticipates that the actual expenditure in the current year will differ as greatly from the estimated expenditure as was the case in 1905–1906.
§ MR. HALDANEMy hon. friend will find in the Memorandum on page 11 a very full comparison of the actual expenditure for several years past. Estimates are not based upon the Estimates of past years, but on anticipated expenditure. The reply to the last part of the Question is in the negative.