I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury, if he is aware that by Order in Council, dated 12th August, 1890, the Commissioners of the Treasury are required to appoint at the beginning of each calendar year four principal officers of Public Departments to serve as a consultative committee upon questions of staff, salary, and organisation; will he say who are the members of this committee for the present year, and also on how many occasions during the last fifteen years the committee has been constituted; and, if there have been any years when it has not been appointed, will he state why the Commissioners of the Treasury have not carried out the definite instructions of the Order in Council.

No occasion has arisen for the services of the Committee in question for several years past, and the Treasury therefore considered it unnecessary to nominate any members.