§ MR. BUCHANAN (Perthshire, E.)I beg to ask the Financial Secretary to the War Office whether certain land, the property of the War Department, on which a Martello tower stands, at Felixstowe, has recently been sold; whether it was sold by public tender; and, if not, will he explain why; and whether, in the case of the sale of similar land, the War Office will offer the same for sale by public auction.
§ THE FINANCIAL SECRETARY TO THE WAR OFFICE (Mr. BROMLEY-DAVENPORT, Cheshire, Macclesfield)As a general rule sale by public tender is resorted to, but in the present case an expert adviser considered that the circumstances were not favourable for public sale, the market being somewhat depressed. The price realised by private negotiation was very largely in excess of any reserve which would have been put upon the land in view of its actual market value.