CIVIL SERVICE SUPPLEMENTARY ESTIMATES, 1918–19. (Hansard, 4 March 1919)

Sir J. D. REES
I was not here when this Estimate was before the House last time, and I have the ignorance not to know where Elizabethville is, or why so large a sum as £6,900 is required for a now Vice-Consulate at Elizabethville. My Noble Friend the Member for Horsham (Major Earl Winterton) referred 346 to the fact—and I heartily agree with him—that the representatives of Great Britain abroad should be better housed than anybody else, and though, like him, I have always been a traveller, I think they are the best housed—certainly the Legations, and probably the Consulates. I do not know, however, why it is necessary to build a Vice-Consulate at Elizabethville at such a cost. Then there is no account given of what are the additions or extensions made to the Legation in Teheran. It is stated that there is additional expense due to the adverse rate of exchange and the high cost of material, but, unless some repairs or extensions are being made, there would be no necessity to refer to this. No detailsare given here of what is being done to that beautiful house and walled garden in which our representative in Persia is housed. I should be obliged if the Minister in charge would say a word.

§ The FIRST COMMISSIONER of WORKS (Sir Alfred Mond)
I am very 347 sorry my hon. Friend was not here when the Estimate was up before, because he would have had an explanation of the question he asked.

Sir J. D. REES
May I assure my right hon. Friend that I have read what he said?

§ Sir A. MOND
Then I do not know that I can add anything really to what I said then. The existing Consulate at Elizabethvile was not erected by the Government, and, I understand, has been in a very bad condition for a long time; in fact it became uninhabitable, and was condemned by the local authorities as not fit for human habitation.

Sir J. D. REES
Who is the local authority?

§ Sir A. MOND
I really do not know. That is a question for the Foreign Office. I am sure my right hon. Friend does not want the Vice-Consul and the staff housed in an in sanitary building, and that is the reason why the new building was sanctioned some time ago. The excess Vote is due, as in a great many cases, to the increased cost of material. I am sorry I cannot give my hon. Friend any explanation of what work has been done at Teheran, as he has not given me notice of the question. The adverse rate of exchange and the high cost of material have operated there as in many other cases. If my hon. Friend will put down a question on the subject. I shall be glad to answer it.
Question put, and agreed to.
Resolutions reported,
That a Supplementary sum, not exceeding £19,300, be granted to His Majesty, to defray the Charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of March, 1919, for Expenditure in respect of sundry Public Buildings in Great Britain, not provided for on other Votes. That a Supplementary sum, not exceeding £5,300, be granted to His Majesty, to defray the Charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of March, 1919, for the Survey of the United Kingdom and for minor services connected therewith. That a Supplementary sum, not exceeding £81,500, be granted to His Majesty, to defray the Charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of March, 1919, for Rates and Contributions in lieu of Rates, etc., in respect of Government Property, and for Bates on Houses occupied by Representatives of Foreign Powers, and for the Salaries and Expenses of the Rating of Government Property Department, and for a Contribution towards the Expenses of the London Fire Brigade. 348 That a Supplementary sum, not exceeding £5, be granted to His Majesty, to defray the Charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of March, 1919, for the Salaries and Expenses of the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries, of the Agricultural Wages Board, and of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, including certain Grants-in-Aid. That a Supplementary sum, not exceeding £150,000, be granted to His Majesty, to defray the Charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of March, 1919, for His Majesty's Foreign and other Secret Services. That a Supplementary sum, not exceeding £1,000, be granted to His Majesty, to defray the Charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of March, 1919, for the Salaries and Expenses of the Offices of the Chief Secretary in Dublin and London, and of the Inspectors of Lunatic Asylums, and Expenses under the Inebriates Acts. That a Supplementary sum, not exceeding £16,000, be granted to His Majesty, to defray the Charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of March, 1919, for the Expenses of the Prisons in England, Wales, and the Colonies, including a Grant-in-Aid of certain Expenses connected with Discharged Prisoners. That a Supplementary sum, not exceeding £57,955, be granted to His Majesty, to defray the Charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 3lst day of March, 1919, for the Salaries and Expenses of the Office of the Inspector of Reformatories, and for the Expenses of the Maintenance of Juvenile Offenders in Reformatory. Industrial, and Day Industrial Schools, and in Places of Detention under the Children Act, in Great Britain. That a Supplementary sum, not exceeding £9,644, be granted to His Majesty, to defray the Charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of March, 1919, for the Salaries and Expenses of various County Court Officers and of Magistrates in Ireland. That a Supplementary sum, not exceeding £9,500, be granted to His Majesty, to defray the Charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of March, 1919, for the Salaries and Expenses of the Commissioner of Police, the Police Courts, and the Metropolitan Police Establishment of Dublin. That a Supplementary sum, not exceeding £134,105, be granted to His Majesty, to defray the Charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of March, 1919, for the Expenses of the Royal Irish Constabulary. That a Supplementary sum, not exceeding £1,500, be granted to His Majesty, to defray the Charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of March, 1919, for the Expenses of the Maintenance of Criminal Lunatics in the Dundrum Criminal Lunatic Asylum, Ireland. Resolutions agreed to.
Resolution reported, That a Supplementary sum, not exceeding £225,000, be granted to His Majesty, to defray the Charge which will come in course of payment 349 during the year ending on the 31st day of March, 1919, for the Salaries and Expenses of the Board of Education, and of the various Establishments connected therewith, including sundry Grants-in-Aid. Motion made, and Question proposed, That this House doth agree with the Committee in the said Resolution.

Sir J. D. REES
Is it possible that a Vote of this character can in some way come before the House before the House is committed to it? There are probably other Members who, like myself, have serious doubts whether this expense should be charged to the British taxpayer. Would it be possible, in some way or other, for the question to be brought up so that Members might have an apportunity of expressing an opinion about it, before the House is practically committed, as it really is, to the expenditure?

The PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY to the BOARD of EDUCATION (Mr. Herbert Lewis)
It will doubtless be within the recollection of the House that this Vote, so far from being passed through sub silentio, as suggested by the hon. Gentleman behind me, was discussed at considerable length on the Committee stage. At that time, I think, my right hon. Friend the President of the Board of Education did make a very full, clear, and detailed statement as to the nature of this expenditure. I do not know whether my hon. Friend really wishes the matter to be gone over again?

Sir J. D. REES
I said I did not. What I ventured to ask was whether it would not be possible to take the opinion of the House as to this expansion of the charges on the British taxpayer before the House is practically committed to it.
Question put, and agreed to.
Resolutions reported,
That a sum, not exceeding £12,500, be granted to His Majesty, to defray the Charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of March, 1919, for a Grant-in-Aid of the Serbian Relief Fund. That a Supplementary sum, not exceeding £27,875, be granted to His Majesty, to defray the Charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of March, 1919, for Public Education in Scotland, and for Science and Art in Scotland. That a sum, not exceeding £51,022, be granted to His Majesty, to defray the Charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of March, 1919, for making good the Net Loss on Transactions connected with the raising of Money for the various Treasury Chests Abroad in the year 1917–18 350 That a Supplementary sum, not exceeding £10, be granted to His Majesty, to defray the Charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of March, 1919, for certain Miscellaneous Expenses, including certain Charitable and other Allowances, Great Britain. That a Supplementary sum, not exceeding £60,000, be granted to His Majesty, to defray the Charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of March, 1919, for a Grant-in-Aid of the Government Hospitality Fund. That a Supplementary sum, not exceeding £25,000, be granted to His Majesty, to defray the Charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of March, 1919, for the Payment of Grants towards the Cost of the Extension of Sanatorium Benefit to the Dependants of Insured Persons under the National Insurance Act, 1911, and of the Treatment of Tuberculosis generally. Resolutions agreed to.
Resolutions reported,