Mr. KENNEDY JONESasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will state in detail the amount which has been paid in subsidies during the first half of the financial year; and what subsidies are still in being and will have to be met?
Mr. CHAMBERLAINThe following are the actual payments made between 1st48W April and 30th September, 1919, and the anticipated expenditure for the following six months, or, where this cannot be confidently stated, the actual Vote taken for the full year:
EXPENDITURE to 30th September, 1919. £ Iron and steel and non-ferrous metals subsidies 5,449,342 Subsidies terminated, but estimated balance of £1,436,370 still payable, subject to audit. British Italian Corporation Nil £50,000 payable in November Assistance to dye industry 25,931 Anticipated expenditure in year, £750,000. Coal mines deficiency 18,402,000 Vote 1919–1920, £26,400,000. Railways agreement 30,812,944 Vote 1919–1920, £60,000,000. Canals compensation 619,558 Vote 1919–1920, £950,000. Bread subsidy 22,500,000 Vote 1919–1920,£60,000,000. Provision will require to be made in future for the Housing and Land Settlement Subsidies which have not yet come in course of payment, and for the subsidy in respect of the diversion of rail-borne traffic to coastwise services, which has only recently come into operation. The expenditure upon out-of-work donation between 1st April and 30th September was, approximately, £24,000,000. The anticipated expenditure during the following six months on the basis of the existing schemes, which terminate for civilians on the 24th. November, 1919, and for ex-Service men one year after the man's demobilisation, is £10,500,000.