§ DR. MACNAMARA (Camberwell, N.)To ask the Secretary of State for War what reply, if any, has yet been sent to the Comptroller and Auditor-General respecting the 50,000,000 rounds of small arm ammunition returned from South Africa as unfit; whether he can now state the names of the firms supplying the ammunition; and what is proposed to be done with the surplus of this rejected ammunition not already expended in field practice, having regard to the statement at page 256 of the Report of the Comptroller and Auditor-General that even in field practice the cartridges are unsatisfactory and in some instances dangerous.
(Answered by Mr. Secretary Arnold-Forster.) A reply was sent to the 330 Auditor-General on the 22nd ultimo. The ammunition was collected from all sources at the end of the campaign. The origin of manufacture cannot, therefore, be traced. Of the rounds still available 30,000,000 can be re-made at a cost of about £1,200 per 1,000,000.