§ MR. COCHRANE (Ayrshire, N.)To ask the Secretary of State for War whether the Ayrshire County Association are entitled to certain grants specified in the regulations which they are authorised to administer on behalf of the Territorial Force in the county; whether the Ayrshire County Association have made repeated requests for payment of these grants to enable them to meet their liabilities; whether, in the belief that these grants would be promptly paid, the Association have made contracts which they are unable to carry out unless the money is promptly paid to them; and whether they have made respectful representations that these grants should not be longer withheld nor should they be doled out in payments to account which may suit the convenience of the Financial Department or the War Office without regard to the obligations which they, the County Association, have entered into in terms 947 of the regulations for the Territorial Force and County Associations, 1908.
(Answered by Mr. Secretary Haldane.) The Association is entitled under the regulations to such advances as may be approved on account of the grants admissible, a settlement taking place after 1st November. To obtain approval of an advance they must satisfy the chief accountant of the command that the amount claimed on account is not excessive in relation to the grants likely to be earned, and in pursuance of these conditions an advance of £4,000 was made on 11th September. Such delay as has occurred in making any further advance has arisen through failure on the part of the Association to justify it.