Mr. Gresham-Cookeasked the Chancellor of die Exchequer why the 48th Report of the Commissioners of Customs and Excise, for the year ended 31st March, 1957, containing 197 pages, costs 9s. 6d. per copy, whereas the 39th Report, for the year ended 31st March, 1948, containing 170 pages, cost 3s. 0d.; and what addition to the cost of the 1948 Report was caused by the insertion of a picture of the London Customs House as it was 100 years ago.
§ Mr. SimonThe difference in price between the 39th and 48th Reports of the Commissioners of Customs and Excise is entirely due to the increase in printing and publication costs over the past ten years.
54WThe picture of the London Customs House as it was 100 years ago was included in the 48th Report—not the 1948 Report—at the request of the Commissioners, to mark the 100th Report concerning the Excise. It added nothing to the published price.