I thought, perhaps, we might have been dealing with these in alphabetical order. I want the Minister to assure the Dáil that the members of these various Commissions are not, as is commonly reported, making a "good thing" out of them. So far as my experience goes it is not the fact that a member who acts upon one of these Commissions is, thereby, increasing his income in any particular whatever. I think it is necessary that there should be some assurance given that, apart from members who act upon one of these giving their services, for which they may be recompensed according to a certain scale, there is no payment whatever to the average member of such a Commission. That is my experience, and I have had a little experience on several Commissions. So far as I can tell from that experience the Commissioners are not being paid for any of their services. The North-Eastern Boundary Bureau has been referred to. I want to ask the Minister if he will tell us why publications coming under the head, I presume, of "Publicity" in the incidentals here, are not subscribed with the name of the authority issuing these publications. I may be a little bit in the dark in this, I may be speaking "off the book." But certain printed matter is being distributed widely, and some typewritten matter is being distributed widely, containing no clue as to the origin. I am jumping to the conclusion that this matter, which is evidently and obviously issued from a Government office, is coming from the North-Eastern Boundary Bureau and is paid for out of this item of incidental expenses under the heading "Publicity." Perhaps the Minister will tell me that it is not true that these publications are coming out of this office, and, if so he may be able to tell me where exactly they are coming from. I think a law passed in the British Parliament some time ago has been taken over by the Saorstát, which says that in certain circumstances every printed leaflet dealing with certain public affairs must bear the name of the printer and publisher. I hope the Government is taking that into account. Whether they are compelled by law to do that or not, I would ask the Minister if he will see that whatever Commission or body issues this publicity work will attach the name of the responsible authority to the printed matter.
There is a small item "Commission on Agriculture—one copying typist (temporary), 31s. 1d. per week, inclusive." I hope that is a very junior typist, and I hope the official responsible for fixing the wage at 31s. 1d. per week has not been acting under the direct instructions of the Minister for Finance. There is a rather more important matter I would like to refer to. When Commissions are set up, presumably intended by the Ministry to do their work with due regard to its importance, they should not be hampered by other departments for want of information that they require. I am referring to the Stationery Office or the Treasury which instructs the Stationery Office in regard to official publications that have been called for, and which are only allowed for the use of the Commissions on a very stinted scale indeed. Either the Commissioners have to take their work seriously or not. If not, they ought not to be appointed. If they are expected to discharge the work as the importance of it demands they should be facilitated by other Government Departments, and the plea of economy ought not to prevail when a Commission requests, or its officers request, that facilities should be given to the Commissioners to do their work thoroughly. The intention of the Treasury to see that good value is got for any expenditure is a very laudable one, but I am afraid that the Treasury is apt to follow the line that diminution of expenditure is equivalent to economy. If these Commissions are not to be assisted then they ought to be scrapped, and I would put in the word that they ought not to be thwarted in the proper following out of their duties by any other Department stinting the supply of material. That argument might well apply to staffs of such Commissions. I hope that nothing by way of extravagance has been demanded by any of the Commissions I have been connected with. I do not think anything extravagant has been demanded. But the proper carrying out of the work requires efficient staffing and a sufficient supply of such printed matter as may be necessary to inform the Commissioners. I think it is necessary to draw the attention of the Minister and the Dáil to the fact that there has been a tendency to stint Commissions that have been set up in regard to equipment for carrying out their work satisfactorily.
