§ 2.53 p.m.
§ THE MINISTER WITHOUT PORTFOLIO (THE EARL OF DUNDEE)My Lords, I should like to correct a mistake which I see from the OFFICIAL REPORT I made yesterday in reply to a question from the noble Lord, Lord Latham, arising out of the Cotton (Confirmation) Orders. The noble Lord asked me [col. 12]:
Will that cost the Exchequer anything?",and I see that I replied:I should have thought it would cost the Exchequer the amount of the Cotton Board's expenses specifically related to the re-equipment schemes.Of course, I ought to have said that it would cost, not the Exchequer, but the cotton industry, the amount of the ex- 56 penses. As I had just explained to your Lordships, not only at rather considerable length but twice over, in reply to questions, that these expenses were to be charged to the industry, I do not know how I came to make this verbal slip, but I think that, for the sake of the record, it ought to be corrected.