Expenditure.

Part of Orders of the Day — National Expenditure. – in the House of Commons at on 9 December 1920.

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I interrupted my statement a little to deal with that point. These Estimates are already before the House. In addition, the House is aware that there will be an Army Supplementary Estimate for a sum only just short of £40,000,000. Of course, the detailed explanation of that Estimate will be given by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for War when he defends it in Committee, but I can give a broad outline at once to the House if they desire to have it. Of this sum of £40,000,000, £18,000,000 is due to terminal charges of the War, such as payment to prisoners of war, maintenance of the Assyrian and Chaldean refugees, and payment for supplies—I think £10,000,000—received from India during the War which have only now been brought to account. That is £18,000,000, as much a part of the cost of the War as the £8,000,000,000 of National Debt. £16,000,000 is due to the disturbed condition of the Middle East, which has prevented a reduction of forces contemplated in the Estimates and has even necessitated a temporary increase of the troops in Mesopotamia.

Secretary of State

Secretary of State was originally the title given to the two officials who conducted the Royal Correspondence under Elizabeth I. Now it is the title held by some of the more important Government Ministers, for example the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.