§ 35. Mr. HOGGEasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether the post which is now held by Mr. Hartley Withers is 394 the same as that vacated by Sir George Paish, or whether the new post is a temporary or permanent one?
§ The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER (Mr. Lloyd George)The Directorship of Financial Inquiries, to which Mr. Hartley Withers has been appointed, is an entirely new post on the permanent establishment of the Treasury, the creation of which has been rendered necessary by the great extension in the functions of the Department that has recently taken place and is likely in many directions to be permanent. The Financial Inquiries Branch will collect statistics and information upon questions of finance and currency, both in the United Kingdom and elsewhere, and will prepare reports on these subjects for the use of the Treasury. Sir George Paish was good enough, at the outbreak of the War, to place his great experience of financial questions at my disposal in a temporary capacity, and at the end of last month, having completed his work at the Treasury, he resumed his ordinary duties as joint editor of "The Statist." In selecting Mr. Hartley Withers for the new post of Director of Financial Inquiries I, of course, had in mind the fact that his position upon the Treasury establishment would place his advice upon similar questions at my disposal, but otherwise there is no connection between the two appointments.