Vol. 199 No. 3
I move:
That a supplementary sum not exceeding £900,000 be granted to defray the charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending on the 31st day of March, 1963, for the Salaries and Expenses of the Office of the Minister for Industry and Commerce, including certain Services administered by that Office, and for payment of sundry Grants-in-Aid.
The Minister has not given his costings in this respect and he says he has not given them for commercial reasons. Therefore we are relying on his undertaking that he has fully examined and accepts responsibility for them.
I regret I was unable to be here when the Minister opened this discussion as I was detained at a funeral. I am not sure whether the Minister said categorically that he accepted or disowned the costings which I quoted to him yesterday. The Minister may remember that I quoted costings which suggested that the factory price of sulphate of ammonia would be £11 2s. or £12 a ton. Allowing for contingencies, £12 a ton was settled on. Does the Minister accept those costings ?
If I were to accept costings like that, it would indicate that I was endorsing the calculations of Deputy Dillon. One of my difficulties is that accepting costings of that nature would lead to disclosures of the type of costings that any commercial undertaking would want to have regarded as confidential to themselves. I am sorry I cannot comment any more on the Deputy's suggestion.
