MR. VEENEY (Buckinghamshire, N.)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for War whether his attention has been drawn to the rents charged to officers living in bungalows in some parts of South Africa; whether he is aware that such rents were fixed in order to bring in a return on prices charged for building these bungalows at a time when prices for materials and labour were very largely in excess of what they now are; whether, in spite of the fall in prices generally and of the depreciation of the bungalows, these rents have been maintained, thereby inflicting a heavy charge on the income of the officers who live in these bungalows; and whether, seeing that it is practically impossible for officers quartered in many places in South Africa to live anywhere else except in the bungalows so provided for them, the Government will take into consideration the desirability of a large and immediate reduction in the rents so charged.
§ MR. HALDANEThis question is now under consideration.