§ 36. Mr. LAMBERTasked the Prime Minister when it is expected that the Committee of Imperial Defence will report on the allocation of expenditure to the various fighting Services, seeing that the public expenditure on these forces is nearly double that of the pre-War period?
§ The PRIME MINISTERThe question of the allocation of expenditure to the various fighting Services has not been specifically referred to the Committee of Imperial Defence. The whole question of expenditure on the various fighting Services, as already announced, has been referred to a Committee of the Cabinet with a view to the further reduction of national expenditure.
§ Mr. LAMBERTIs the right hon. Gentleman aware that the expenditure on the fighting forces is just double what it was before the War, and yet our Air Force is in a dangerous state of weakness?
§ The PRIME MINISTERI do not think my right hon. Friend has quite made allowance for the increased cost of material, or for the fact that wages have doubled and even trebled in some branches of the Service. It does not mean that your armanents are heavier or more considerable. In fact, taking the Army and Navy, they are considerably reduced as compared with the pro-War period.
§ Mr. LAMBERTWhen the right hon. Gentleman signed the Treaty of Versailles, I assume he expected that armaments would be reduced?
§ The PRIME MINISTERWe have done it.
Viscount CURZONWill the Committee, to which the right hon. Gentleman had alluded, pass under review the policy embodied in the expenditure of each of the fighting Services—I mean exactly what they are doing with the money?
§ The PRIME MINISTERWe must take into account what money is available, and see how it can best be spent.