§ Mr. WATTasked the President of the Board of Agriculture what was the cost to the country of the recent Committee sent down to Glasgow to adjudicate upon the prices charged for landing cattle at 618W Merklands; was any extra remuneration given to any member of that Committee, and, if so, how much; and what were the travelling and other expenses incurred by that body?
§ Mr. RUNCIMANThe following expenses were incurred by my Department in connection with the Public Inquiry in question:—
£ s. d. Travelling expenses and subsistence allowances to officers 32 7 8 Advertisements 6 12 0 Shorthand-writer's Account 54 12 8 Total £93 12 4 Besides this sum there will be some small cost in connection with the attendance at the inquiry of representatives of the Scottish and Irish Departments of Agriculture. No extra remuneration was paid to any officer of my Department in connection with the inquiry.
§ Mr. WATTasked the President of the Board of Agriculture what were the names of those who constituted the recent Committee appointed to inquire into the Merklands charges for cattle landing there; had they ever previously had any experience in the way of sifting evidence and coming to a conclusion on matters similar to those put before them in Glasgow; if so, what experience; what was the remit put before that Committee; and was any indication given to them beforehand of the views on the matter to be adjudicated upon which were held by the Board of Agriculture?
§ Mr. RUNCIMANThe inquiry was conducted by the secretary of my Department, Sir Sydney Olivier, assisted by Mr. F. A. Jones, one of the Board's legal advisers, and by Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Edward Clarke, Bart., one of the Board's Superintending inspectors. Sir Sydney Olivier before he entered the Colonial service was on several occasions specially employed to investigate and deal with problems of Colonial finance, and has during his Colonial service been continually responsible for the direction and control of financial administration, central and municipal, involving the sifting of evidence and coming to conclusions on matters in comparison with which the questions to be dealt with on this inquiry were exceedingly simple. Mr. Jones has on several occasions acted in inquiries similar to 619W that now in question. The question remitted for report, but not for determination, was whether any of the tolls taken by the Corporation of Glasgow for the use of the landing-place for Irish animals at Merklands might properly be reduced, regard being had to expenditure and receipts of the corporation in respect of the landing-place and to any money secured on the tolls and to other circumstances of the case, and what charges should be sanctioned by the Board under Article 6 of the Animals (Landing from Ireland) Order of 1913, for the use of the landing-place for animals landed under that Order. The Board did not prejudge the matter remitted for inquiry but dealt with it as an open question on the considerations reported.