§ 60. Mr. CURRIEasked the Under-Secretary of State for War whether quantities of Army saddlery, harness, and boots not suitable for reissue and incapable of being repaired are habitually burned instead of being sold to waste merchants at Calais and other places; and whether he will consider the practicability of allowing waste merchants to make tenders for such material in the interests of economy?
§ The FINANCIAL SECRETARY to the WAR OFFICE (Mr. Forster)Stores which cannot be repaired and are not worth returning to this country are necessarily destroyed if they cannot be sold locally. Local sale is frequently precluded by the fact that duty has to be paid upon anything sold in France. If my hon. Friend 1990 includes English waste merchants in his suggestion it is, I fear, impracticable, as facilities could not be afforded to them for shipping their purchases to this country owing to the congestion at the ports both in this country and in France.