§ Mr. COMYNS-CARRasked the President of the Board of Trade how many persons are employed on duties of inspection under the Board of Trade, and at what annual cost, classified in each case according to the purpose of the inspection?
Mr. ALEXANDERUnder the Mercantile Marine Department of the Board there is a staff of 37 Inspectors of Ships' Provisions, the estimated cost of such staff for the year 1924–25 being £11,136. In the Bankruptcy Department there is one person performing inspection duties, whose salary amounts to £1,130 per annum. A certain proportion of the duties performed by other officers of the Board of Trade, as, for example, the Surveyors and Medical Inspectors of the Mercantile Marino Department, might also be classed as inspection duties, but it is impossible to abstract exact particulars.