`THE CONTROL OF THE PURSE'
Einzig's letter of September 18, which escaped me at the time, challenged me to produce some authoritative pronouncement in support of my view that the strict scrutiny by the Treasury of de- partmental estimates (and spending generally) is, in effect, a delegation of the parliamentary control of government expenditure. I have just read the very informative article on this subject by Professor R. C. Tress in the September Three Banks Review which took the same view as I did. 'The activities of the Treasury,' he says. 'are still undertaken on behalf of Parliament.' Professor Tress reminds me that in the Treasury memoranda submitted to the Select Com- mittee on Estimates last year (see 6th Report) the history and nature of Treasury control are plainly set out and undoubtedly support our view. This report contains a reference to 1861 when the Public Accounts Committee laid down that the departmental estimates must be approved by the Treasury before they are presented to Parliament. Dr. Einzig seems so obsessed with the formal aspect of Parliament's financial control that he has become blind to the present realities.—Yours faithfully.
The Athenaeum, SW I
NICHOLAS DAVENPORT
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