§ MAJOR RASCH (Essex, S.E.)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for War whether he is aware that the terms agreed upon for purchase of land at Shoeburyness under the Defence Act, although approved by Messrs. Clutton, Surveyors to the War Office, in January, have been repudiated by the Solicitors to the Treasury; and whether he can state when the arrangements for purchase will be carried out?
§ MR. E. STANHOPEVarious purchases of land have taken place at Shoeburyness since January last, and valuations have been made in other cases. Any arrangements made by Messrs. Clutton, or other surveyors, are provisional, and subject to approval by me; and it would not be for the public interest to notify the exact state of the negotiations.