§ 26. Mr. ROYDSasked what steps, if any, have been taken with reference to the appointment of the promised Committee to inquire into the working of the valuation of land under the Finance (1909–10) Act, 1910; and whether an early opportunity 342 will be afforded the House of considering the terms of reference and the constitution of the Committee?
§ Mr. LLOYD GEORGEYes, Sir. I at once took steps to frame terms of reference, and secured the services of a suitable chairman. Before, however, the constitution of the Committee was definitely completed, I was asked by the right hon. Gentleman the Member for East Worcestershire, to whom I had communicated the proposed terms of reference, to enlarge their scope in such a manner as to take them outside the undertaking that I had given, and to introduce questions of principle and policy with which a purely expert Committee such as I was constituting could not suitably deal. I was, and am still, perfectly willing to fulfil my original promise.