§ Mr. BOWLESasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether the statement in the Paper issued by the Treasury of the Revenue and Expenditure to 20th March, 1909, that the Estimate of Expenditure for the year 1908-9, including Supplementary Estimates, is £153,217,000 is accurate; is it accurate especially in the item of Estimated Expenditure for Supply Services which is there set down as amounting to £113,512,000; does this amount include the Supplementary Civil Service Estimate for £1,104,015 voted by this House on 15th March last; if not, should not the Estimated Expenditure, including Supplementary Estimates for Supply Services, be stated as £114.616,000, and the total Estimated Expenditure not as £153,217,000 but as £154,321,000; and, if so, can he state on what ground the Supplementary Estimate in question has been omitted from this statement?
§ Mr. HOBHOUSEThe figures for Supply Services in the statement referred to represent, in accordance with the usual 1158 practice, the grants in the Session of 1908. The custom is to show Supplementary Estimates only when the grants are in all respects available, and this, as a rule, excludes the Votes taken in the new Session, which are not available until the Consolidate Fund (No. 1) Bill has become law—usually about 29th March. In the present Session, however, a separate Consolidated Fund Act was passed to cover the Supplementary Vote for Old Age Pensions (£910,000), and, as this Act received the Royal Assent before the date of the statement referred to in the question, that Vote ought properly to have been included amongst the Supplementary Votes shown, but was omitted, I regret, through an inadvertence. The total for Supply Services ought, therefore, to have appeared as £115,526,000, and the total estimated expenditure as £154,127,000.
§ Mr. BOWLESDoes the Treasury consider that the Votes for the Supplementary Estimates are not granted until the Consolidated Fund Bill, dealing with them, is passed? Is it not a fact that as soon as the Resolution on the Vote has been passed by this House the Treasury act upon that—at any rate to collect?
§ Mr. HOBHOUSEWhen the grant is very small the Treasury act upon the resolution. But important sums, such as, for instance, the Old Age Pensions, which came to £910,000, it was thought proper to wait for the formal assent of the House—which is, after all, the regular practice.
§ Mr. BOWLESIn future, in order that we may understand what these statements amount to, has the House to take it that Supplementary Estimates will not be included in this Return of Revenue until after the Consolidated Bill is passed, or will the Treasury adhere to what I believe to be their former practice?
§ Mr. HOBHOUSEIt is an important and interesting question which the hon. Gentleman has put, and it cannot be answered offhand. But in the case of small amounts, the general practice has been followed. Still, circumstances might arise which again might require another Bill.