§ Mr. GINNELLasked the Under-Secretary for the Colonies if he will give the names of the railways constructed in 102W British Crown Colonies and Protectorates during the last 20 years; and the number of miles in each case constructed depart-mentally under the control of the Crown Agents and under contract on public competitive tender, respectively, with the average cost per mile and gross cost in each case under each system?
§ Colonel SEELYAs I have already stated, no railways are constructed under the control of the Crown Agents. I am not in possession of the particulars which would enable me to give the hon. Gentleman the information for which he asks.
§ Mr. GINNELLasked whether any professional or business opinion was obtained by the Crown Agents' Inquiry Committee before recommending that the head of the Crown Agents' engineering inspection department, controlling the expenditure of millions per annum, should be paid £600 a year; and whether an opinion was voluntarily conveyed to the Committee that such a salary for the occupant of such a position would be a direct incentive to dishonesty?
§ Colonel SEELYthe head of the Inspection Department of the Crown Agents cannot be said to control expenditure. His duty is to carry out efficient inspection of goods. The hon. Gentleman has overlooked the full extent of the recommendation as to the salaries of the heads of technical Departments made by the Committee over which I presided: that recommendation was for a salary of £600, rising by annual increments of £25 to £800, with pension rights attached. This scale was based on careful comparison of the rates offered in similar cases in the Imperial service, and appears to the Secretary of State to be adequate to the responsibility thrown on the officers to whom it is assigned. No such opinion as the hon. Gentleman mentions is known to have been volunteered or otherwise expressed to the Committee.
§ Mr. GINNELLasked the Under-Secretary for the Colonies if he will state the net cash profit, as distinguished from patronage and other consequential advantages, derived by the Crown Agents from each and all of the railways constructed under their control during the last 20 years, as shown by their accounts?
§ Colonel SEELYAs the hon. Member has already been informed, no railways have been constructed under the control of the Crown Agents. The Crown Agents 103W personally derive no profit from any works constructed by the Governments for which they act.