LORD RAGLANMy Lords, I wish to ask His Majesty's Government whether it is a fact, as stated in the local Press, that in Trans-Jordania last year the Emir Abdullah's personal expenses consumed £90,000 out of a total revenue of £120,000, and, if so, whether they propose to take any action?
§ LORD ARNOLDMy Lords, the Press statements to which the noble Lord refers in this Question are inaccurate. I have gone carefully into the figures. The Emir's personal expenditure was undoubtedly heavy, but it did not bear anything like the proportion to the total revenue suggested in the Question. I find that a sum of about £69,500 was paid into the Emir's Civil List from local revenues during the year, and the total 852 revenue collections for the year were in the neighbourhood of £200,000; in other words, the Emir's Civil List accounted for less than 35 per cent. of the total. It must be remembered that a proportion of the expenditure classed as personal to the Emir is devoted to what are really in the nature of public services, such as the payment of subsidies to tribesmen, and so forth. It is proposed for the future that the items charged against the general Budget of Trans-Jordania shall be differentiated. Thus the Emir's purely private expenditure will be shown separately. It is hoped to restrict the Civil List to a scale appropriate to the resources of the territory, and the High Commissioner advises the Secretary of State that there is every prospect of a reduction in expenditure in the future.