Sir Robert Horne announced in the House on Tuesday that
the Business Committee which is to tell him how to effect " all possible reductions in the national expenditure on supply services " would consist of Sir Eric Geddes as chairman, Lord Inchcape, Lord Faringdon, Sir Joseph Maclay, and Sir Guy Granet. In the course of the debate strong exception was naturally taken to the appointment as chairman of a Minister who has surpassed all his colleagues in lavish expenditure on a new bureaucracy. Members of all parties objected also to the slight cast on the House of Commons, which will be repre- cented solely by Sir Eric Geddes. Sir. Robert Home in reply said that if the Committee failed, the responsibility would be his. He was hopeful that his Budget estimates would be realized, though the expenditure would be higher and the Excess Profits Duty would yield less than he had expected. He was much more apprehensive about the next financial year. The expenditure for 1922-23 would have to be less by £130,000,000 than it was this year, but the economies suggested by the Departments did not exceed 00,000,000. He hoped that the Committee would show him how to save more.
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