§ MR. FIELDTo ask the Secretary of State for War under what circumstances the General Officer Commanding in Ireland refused to forward to the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury an appeal from the three storeholders in the Army Ordnance Department at Dublin respecting their altered positions; and can he see his way to allow a committee of civil servants (not military officers) to inquire into the alleged grievances of the late storeholders in Ireland, who have suffered financially through no fault of their own.
Answered by Mr. Secretary Haldane.) The General Officer Commanding-in-Chief in Ireland, after careful consideration, decided that as the matter had already been fully represented to and settled by the War Office the petition should not be forwarded to the War Office. Within a few days of the receipt of this petition these three storeholders accepted in writing their re-classification to principal foremen and foremen. I may add that they retain the pension rights to which entitled. It is imperative in the interests of the public service to cut down unnecessary expenditure, and I am not prepared to make any further inquiry into a matter which has already been thoroughly well considered.