§ Mr. STEEL-MAITLANDasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether any receipts received by any of the Public Departments in the present financial year have been applied as Appropriations in Aid; if so, what is the amount up to 9th June that has been so received under each Vote of the Army and Navy Estimates, the Inland Revenue, and the Post Office Estimates, and under each class of the Civil Service Estimates; under what direction, by Treasury Minute or otherwise, have such appropriations been made; have the moneys in question been paid into the Exchequer: to what payments under what Votes have they been applied; in virtue of what statutory powers has such action been taken in each case; and what has been the total sum so applied in the present financial year as compared with the sum so specified during the same period of the financial years 1908 and 1909?
§ Mr. LLOYD GEORGEThe answer to the first question is in the affirmative. I am unable to give the figures asked for by the hon. Member without inquiry for the respective accounting departments of the separate Votes and the compilation of a Return to a day in the middle of a month would only be practicable, if at all, at the cost of considerable labour. The statutory authority for the practice of applying certain receipts in aid of Parliamentary grants for Supply Services is contained in Section 2 of the Public Accounts and Charges Act, 1891.