§ MR. COURTHOPEI beg to ask the Secretary of State for War, if he will state the reasons for the repeated refusals of the War Office to allow the Corporation of Bexhill to erect a sea wall in front of the War Office property at that place; whether he is aware that the consequent interruption of the sea wall is not only a source of inconvenience and a disfigurement in the very centre of the Bexhill sea front, but an actual source of danger owing to the erosive action of the sea; and whether he will reconsider his decision in this matter.
§ MR. HALDANEI have been in communication with the hon. Member on this 1315 subject. The War Department offered the corporation a lease of the land for fourteen years subject to three months notice, but this was declined on the ground that the corporation was not willing to give the rent suggested. If the corporation care to purchase the land, the War Department are willing to consider an offer for it. It is obvious that the War Department could not consent to allow its land to be used in the manner proposed by the corporation as its selling price would be prejudicially affected.