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Motion made, and Question proposed,
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, 1942, for the salaries and expenses of the House of Commons, including a grant in aid to the Kitchen Committee.
§ The Financial Secretary to the Treasury (Captain Crookshank)It is only right that I should say a word on this, in order to call specific attention to an extension being made in the travelling facilities provided for Members of this House. Hon. Members know that the practice has been for several years that travelling facilities—either first-class or third-class, as hon. Members may wish—are provided for hon. Members between Westminster and their constituencies. At the beginning of the war the natural extension was made to provide travelling facilities for our hon. and gallant colleagues between Westminster and their military stations. That extension was an cjusdem generis of the previous facilities, and it was not thought necessary to bring it further before the House. There has been this year another extension, which I announced in reply to a Question on 4th September, which makes available to hon. and gallant Members travelling facilities between their military stations and their 1207 constituencies. I think it is an extension which will be found agreeable to hon. Members. As a matter of fact, it is impossible to give any estimate of the cost of the extension, but it is obvious that it will be only a very small sum, and it is possible to argue that it will effect an economy. It all depends on whether the military station and the constituency are on the same side of London or not. At present, if a Member is stationed on a different side of London from his constituency, he can get a ticket from his military station to Westminster and then get a ticket from Westminster to his constituency. If his military station is on the same side of London as his constituency, he will have to come up to London from his station, and then go back again to his constituency. Under the new arrangement, that double journey will be avoided. That is why I do not think that the proposal is likely to involve any extra charge. But, as this is an extension of the facilities which hon. Members have in the past voted to themselves, it is only right that their specific attention should be called to it.
§ Question put, and agreed to.
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Resolved.
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, 1942, for the salaries and expenses of the House of Commons, including a grant in aid to the Kitchen Committee.