§ 53. Mr. HARMSWORTHasked the Prime Minister whether, as the annual expenditure of the Mines Department is limited to £250,000 a year, His Majesty's Government will consider treating this as a procedent for the rationing of all other State Departments, beginning with an all-round and fixed percentage of reduction to be effected in the Estimates for 1927–28?
§ The FINANCIAL SECRETARY to the TREASURY (Mr. Ronald McNeill)I would refer my hon. Friend to the reply given by the Chancellor of the Exchequer on the 20th May last to my hon. Friend the Member for the North West Division of Camberwell, of which I am sending him a copy. I do not see how economy would be served by fixing an annual limit of expenditure as in the case of the Mines Department considerably above the actual figure of the Estimate.
§ Mr. HARMSWORTHMay I ask whether the economy scheme to be effected before the next Budget is sufficient without fixing a definite rationing?
§ Mr. McNEILLThat is quite a different question.