II, 29 and Industrial State Management Dis- Home Secretary... State Management Dis- (Note tricts Council. VI, 5 Merchant Seamen's War President of the Board of Trade. We understand the remaining Subheads appearing under Class II, 9, as being Services arising out of the War, in Estimates for 1925-26, will no longer appear. NOTES ON PARTICULAR VOTES. (1) REPRESENTATION OF THE PEOPLE ACT. These expenses are closely allied with the Vote for the House of Commons and should, it is thought, be included in Class I as part of the cost of Government. (2) GOVERNMENT ACTUARY. Both these officers work for Departments generally, and they might be included in Common Services. On the other hand, they do not supply goods, and are therefore not entirely analogous to Stationery Office or Works. Indeed, practically every Department provides information when required for other Departments. On the whole, it seems best to put both these Departments in Class I. (3) PUBLIC RECORD OFFICE. Preserves the records of all Government Departments and of the Courts. It is under the charge of the Master of the Rolls. It might be classed with Museums, or with Common Services. On the whole, however, this Office is of sufficient importance to be regarded as a Branch of Central Government and put in Class I. (4) WEST INDIAN ISLAND CABLES, GRANT-IN-AID. EMPIRE MARKETING. Are essentially contributions towards the development of the Empire, and should therefore fall into Class II. (5) REFORMATORY AND INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS. Might fall either into Class III (Law and Justice), or Class IV (Education). So long as the Home Office is responsible for the administration of the Service, it is probably better to include the Estimate in Class III, although the Scottish Vote is administered by the Scottish Education Department. (6) PUBLIC TRUSTEE. Could be placed either in Class I or in Class III (Legal Departments), as it is at present. The work done by this Department is analogous to administrative work done by a Solicitor, and we feel disposed to keep it with the Legal Departments. (7) NATIONAL INSURANCE AUDIT DEPARTMENT. Is part of the National Health Insurance Scheme, and should be included in Class V, just as much as the administrative expenses of the Ministry of Health are included in that Class. (8) FRIENDLY SOCIETIES REGISTRY. FRIENDLY SOCIETIES DEFICIENCY. These Departments are, perhaps, the most difficult to classify. The Friendly Societies Registry exercises a large number of administrative functions in connection with Friendly Societies, Building Societies, etc., and also a number of semi-judicial functions, both in relation to Friendly Societies and in relation to the Workmen's Compensation Acts and the Industrial Assurance Act, 1923. The Friendly Societies Deficiency is a purely financial Vote, but it seems undesirable to separate it from the Friendly Societies Registry. If stress were laid on the financial aspects of these Votes, they should be put into Class I (cf., National Debt Office and National Savings Committee). If their administrative aspect is considered, they might find a place amongst the Legal Departments or the Health Votes. Provisionally, they have been put in the Health and Labour Group, but we are inclined to think that a good case could be made for putting them into Class I. (9) CROWN LANDS. STATE MANAGEMENT DISTRICTS. Both relate to undertakings managed by the State and should properly be classified with the Post Office in a group covering public undertakings, but it is obviously not desirable to classify these two small Votes with an enormous Department like the Post Office, and there are analogies between the functions of the Crown Lands Commissioners and those of the Forestry Commission which, in fact, took over the management of the Crown Forests. We consider, therefore, that both these Votes can be put under the Trade Group (Class VI). (10) FORESTRY COMMISSION. This is the only Vote in the Estimates for which no Minister is in effect responsible. The status of the Forestry Commission as an autonomous body is definitely laid down by Statute. Whilst the Commission's work is closely allied to that of the Ministry of Agriculture, that Department has no responsibility for the Commission's Vote. The Treasury exercise certain general powers of financial supervision over the expenditure of the Commission, and, whilst constitutionally the Secretary to the Treasury would answer for the Vote in the House, he is not in touch with the work of the Commission, and questions cannot be addressed to him but only to the Parliamentary Commissioner. It is an anomaly that a private Member should be answerable in any way for the expenditure of a Public Department, and from a financial standpoint the position is most unsatisfactory. (11) DEPARTMENT OF SCIENTIFIC AND INDUSTRIAL RESEARCH. Is primarily intended for the application of scientific research to industry. It should therefore he placed in the Trade Group (Class VI). (12) PETERHEAD HARBOUR. This is a fishery harbour constructed by the Government largely with convict labour. The Admiralty was, and is, the only Government Department equipped with an engineering works branch suited to the direct supervision of construction works of this character, and it was given special powers by the Peterhead Harbour Act, 1886, to enable it to construct the harbour. This Vote is, therefore, quite exceptional, and it can best be classed as at present with other public works. SECOND REPORT. The Select Committee on Estimates have made further progress in the matters referred to them and have agreed to the following Second Report : 1. Your Committee decided to direct their attention to the possibilities of greater co-ordination of common services between. Departments, with special reference to the three fighting Services, and to facilitate and expedite this enquiry, four Sub-Committees were nominated, dealing, in the main, with the following subjects. (1) Hospitals, Medical Services, and Stationery. (Chairman Colonel Henderson.) (2) Finance and Accounts Staffs. Scientific Research. (Chairman: Mr. Ammon.) (3) Contracts and Supplies. (Chairman: Mr. Bennett.) (4) Lands Directorate and Works Services. (Chairman: Mr. Dalton.) 2. Your Main Committee and the respective Sub-Committees examined representatives from the following Departments :Treasury. Admiralty. War Office. Air Ministry. Ministry of Pensions. Office of Works. Stationery Office. Department of Scientific and Industrial Research. MOND-WEIR COMMITTEE. 3. During the course of your Committee's enquiry the Government agreed to publish the Report of the Mond-Weir Committee, which was appointed by the Cabinet in 1922, to make definite proposals for amalgamating, as far as possible, the Common Services of the three Fighting Departments. Committee reported in January, 1923, against amalgamation, although they made certain recommendations, to some of which reference is made at later stages in this Report. The Your Committee, however, wish to draw attention to the method. by which the Mond-Weir Committee carried out their enquiry. The work was done by four Sub-Committees, on which repre |