§ Miss WILKINSONasked the Minister of Labour what is the total cost of all the Royal Commissions and Committees on coal that have sat since the War?
§ Mr. McNEILLThe expenditure borne on the Royal Commissions Vote has been as follows:
£ s. d. Coal Industry Commission, 1919 3,291 11 6 Mining Subsidence Commission 3,241 12 7 Coal Industry (1925) Commission 5,885 7 5 The Vote for the Ministry of Labour has borne the following expenditure on Courts of Inquiry under the Industrial Courts Act, 1919:
£ Buckmaster Court of Inquiry, April-May, 1924 71 Macmillan Court of Inquiry, June-July, 1925 181 The total of the above items is £12,670. This total excludes the cost of printing the various reports, since in the time available it has not been possible to ascertain the revenue derived from sales which must be set off against the cost of printing.
In addition there have been numerous Departmental Committees and Boards set 1276W up by the Home Office, the Mines Department and the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, but the cost of these since the War is not readily available and considerable expenditure of time and labour would be involved in procuring the figures.