§ Sir W. Smithersasked the Minister of Agriculture why he requested the Select Committee on Estimates, 1948–49, to treat the trading accounts of county committees as confidential.
Mr. T. WilliamsI considered that figures for individual committees should not be published since comparisons without detailed descriptions of the circumstances of different committees would tend to be misleading.
§ Sir W. Smithersasked the Minister of Agriculture, in view of the fact that the accounts of county committees are published in unco-ordinated and confused form, he will instruct them to publish their accounts on a uniform basis
Mr. T. WilliamsApart from the cash figures included in the annual Appropriation Accounts no accounts of county agricultural executive committees have yet been published. For 1948–49 and succeeding years total trading accounts for each of the trading services of all committees will be submitted to the Comptroller and Auditor General for audit and publication in the annual volume of trading accounts. These accounts will be prepared from the accounts supplied by the individual committees in a form prescribed by my Department.