§ MR. CROOKS (Woolwich)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for War if he has received any application from the Mayor of Woolwich with regard to the reinstatement of property destroyed by the recent explosion, and what proposals his Department have to make on the subject.
§ MR. HALDANEI have received an application from the Mayor of Woolwich as to the reinstatement of the property destroyed by the explosion at Woolwich. As the House is aware, the Crown is not liable for damage of this kind, but the Government do not consider that this is an occasion on which they ought to stand on a technical rule. I think that the Government would have the concurrence of the House in making good the amount of the actual damage done. Some careful investiga- 300 tion will have to be made of what the damage really was; but the Chancellor of the Exchequer has, with commendable promptitude, enabled mo to telegraph a sum of £6,000 in order to deal with the more necessitous cases as promptly as possible.