HC Deb 21 April 1915 vol 71 cc271-2W
Mr. HOUSTON

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he will state the names of the individuals or firms who constitute or conduct the operations of the Royal Commission on the Sugar Supply and their respective occupations or businesses prior to their appointment to the Commission and what remuneration, if any, they respectively receive either directly or indirectly for their services; whether he will state who appointed the members of the Commission and the date of the inception and formation of the Commission, and what position Mr. J. J. Runge holds under the Commission; and whether he will state the total quantity of sugar purchased by the Commission from its inception until 31st March last and the respective ports at which the sugar was shipped during that period, giving the shipments monthly from each port, and the total quantity of sugar which arrived in British ports from all sources from 1st September, 1914 to 31st March, 1915, and the respective quantities each month during the said period which arrived at the ports of London, Liverpool, Greenock, Glasgow, Avonmouth, Leith, Hull, Newcastle, Cardiff, and Manchester, respectively, and the greatest quantity which arrived in any one week at London, Liverpool, and Greenock during the said period?

Mr. McKENNA

As regards the constitution of the Royal Commission on the Sugar Supply, I would refer the hon. Member to the notice in the "London Gazette" of 11th September, 1914, in which publication was made of the appointment of the Commission. No member of the Commission receives any remuneration. Mr. J. J. Runge is employed by the Commission in the capacity of manager. The whole of the staff of the Commission has been engaged in the usual way, on salaries approved by the Treasury. The Commission will in due course make a full Report of its proceedings. It would be quite impossible for the Commission, with the staff at its disposal, to prepare elaborate interim returns such as the hon. Member asks for, without serious interruption and prejudice to the business which it has to conduct.