I beg to move, That this House will not sanction Expenditure for 1921–22 in excess of £808,000,000, the amount estimated as being necessary for a normal year by the Chancellor of the exchequer on the 23rd October, 1919. Let me, in the first place, express my appreciation that the Leader of the House has given us this opportunity for a Debate on expenditure. I hope that it will not partake of a party character. If this were a game of ordinary party politics, I should not be playing it. It must be apparent to every reflective mind that we must, if we are to avoid disaster, have a sharp reversal in our financial policy. The war habit of freely spending—I might say recklessly and extravagantly spending—must be ruthlessly broken. As far as I can judge, the situation has got out of hand. The House last October, at the insitgation of my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer, passed a Resolution promising its hearty support to the Government in all reasonable proposals, however drastic, for the reduction of expenditure and the diminution of debt. That Resolution, up till now, appears to me to have been, more or less, a pious platitude. The expenditure tap is still running, and running to waste. My right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer introduced a Budget that hoped to raise a revenue of £1,400,000,000, and he included in that Budget something like £198,000,000 new taxation, which was about our pre-war expenditure. I do not think, if the present expenditure is to go on, that it was anything too much, but I do say that, since the Chancellor introduced his Budget, there has been a creeping paralysis in the industry of the country. There are men to-day who want work and cannot get it, and the man who wants work and cannot get it is not only a pathetic spectacle, but he may be a great danger in the community. Even law-abiding men, when they are hungry, and especially if they have families at home who are hungry, will do deeds which they would not do in calmer moments. It is a truism to say that we have had Europe wasted with war, and, if I may be allowed to do so, I would quote a resolution which was passed by the International Financial Conference of the League of Nations some two months ago. This is what they said: The statements presented to the Conference show that on an average some 20 per cent, of the national expenditure is still being devoted to the maintenance of armaments and the preparations for war. The Conference desires to affirm with the utmost emphasis that the world cannot afford this expenditure. Our expenditure on armaments this year was budgeted at £230,000,000 for the fighting forces, and there are Supplementary Estimates. The pre-War expenditure was something like £85,000,000. If I talk about my own Department, the Admiralty, let it not be thought that I am not one who believes that we owe an undying debt of gratitude to the Navy. But for the Navy our troops could not have been conveyed abroad; but for the Navy that blockade which broke the Hun could never have taken place. Therefore, if I criticise my own Department, it will not be in the smallest degree to belittle the enormous efforts of the Navy during the late War. What, however, has the Admiralty done? It is two years since the Armistice took place. How has the Admiralty gone to work to reduce expenditure? I have here an answer given to a question a day or two ago with regard to the personnel in the dockyards and at the Admiralty itself. In the out-port establishments—that means the dockyards—in July, 1914, when, I will not say we were preparing for war, but when we had to take precautions against the German menace, and against the German fleet which was in full being, but to-day is at the bottom of the sea-at that time in the dockyards there were 58,000 men. To-day there are 77,000 men. Can any hon. or right hon. Gentleman on that Bench opposite give me any real explanation why 20,000 more men should be maintained in the dockyards than there were prior to the War in 1914? Take the numbers engaged at the Admiralty. In July, 1914, the staff numbered 2,072. On the 1st November, 1920, it was three times as many, namely, 6,918. I would ask my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer is he satisfied with the Admiralty in this respect? The wages paid in the dockyards in July, 1914, amounted to £5,000,000 per annum. To-day they represent £16,500,000 per annum. True there has been a rise in wages, but there must be a reduction in personnel later on. At the Admiralty in July, 1914, salaries were paid at the rate of £514,000 per annum. To-day they amount to £1,944,000, or nearly four times as much. So far as the Admiralty is concerned, therefore, they have not taken to heart the Resolution which the House of Commons passed last year. I say frankly there must now in the out-port establishments and at the Admiralty, be a large amount of work being undertaken for giving men employment.