§ 45. Mr. L. SMITHasked the Prime Minister whether, in view of the doubt that exists that the cost-of-living index as evolved by the Minister of Labour is a suitable criterion for adjusting the pay of officers in the Army and Navy and non-industrial workers in the Civil Service, he will consider the setting up of a committee to investigate the possibility of drawing up separate cost-of-living indexes for the various classes of the community 2268 or of evolving alternative methods for adjusting the pay of the various classes of Government servants in accordance with the rise and fall of prices?
§ The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER (Mr. Philip Snowden)I would refer the hon. Member to the answer on this subject which was given to him by my right hon. Friend the Minister of Labour on the 19th February, and to the reply which I gave on the 3rd February to a question by the hon. Member for Willesden East (Mr. D. G. Somerville).