§ Mr. SITCHasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if his attention has been drawn to the resolution recently passed by the French Parliamentary Commission recommending that property, money, and valuables acquired since August, 1914, by speculators taking advantage of national necessities under practices coming within the terms of the penal code or of laws passed since the outbreak of War shall be declared the property of the nation; whether any cases of private aggrandisement attributable to national misfortune are known to have occurred in the United Kingdom during the same period; and, if so, will he advise the appointment of a committee with powers similar to those of the French Parliamentary Commission for the purposes of investigating such cases and recommending, where deemed justifiable, similar salutory punishment of the offenders?
§ Mr. BRIDGEMANI have been asked to reply. My attention had not been drawn to the resolution referred to, and I should be glad if the hon. Member would be good enough to give me a reference to the source of his information.