§ MR. SWIFT MACNEILL (Donegal, S.)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for War whether his attention has been directed to the statement of Colonel Morgan before the Butler Commission that, in the presence of General Lyttelton and another, Lord Milner refused to make any further purchases of supplies from the Army for repatriation; whether he is aware that this refusal of Lord Milner was based on the ground that the making of these purchases would not be fair to the local merchants; whether General Lyttelton communicated to the War Office authorities this refusal of Lord Milner, whereby the main source of custom for the Army stores, to the loss of the taxpayer, was shut off; and, if so, what was the reply of the War Office; and whether he will lay this correspondence upon the Table.
§ MR. ARNOLD-FORSTERMy attention has been drawn to the statement mentioned. No communication from General Lyttelton on this matter can be traced at the War Office, but General Lyttelton informs me that he and Brigadier-General. Lawson were present at a meeting which is presumably the one referred to. Their recollection is to the effect that the discussion was on the allotment of trucks between the civil and the military, and they do not remember that anything was said by Lord Milner in the sense referred to.