§ 48. General CROFTasked the Prime Minister whether he will state the number of enemy aeroplanes known to be destroyed or driven down since 1st July, 1916, respectively?
§ Mr. MACPHERSONInformation on this subject is announced in the communiqués from the various fronts which are published in the Press. Compilation of the complete statement, for which my hon. and gallant Friend asks, would involve a good deal of work, and I trust that he will not press for it.
§ Mr. BILLINGWhen two or three machines are shot down and fifteen or sixteen are seen to disappear and it is stated that eighteen enemy machines have been lost, are we to accept that Press statement as an accurate statement that eighteen aeroplanes and pilots belonging to the enemy have been killed, or is it purely to delude the public?
§ Mr. HOGGEDo we understand that the War Office, while it may not be able to give it now, is keeping an accurate account of this item as they are of the other items?
§ Mr. MACPHERSONYes, we are, of course, keeping an accurate account and we are only too anxious to give it, but at present it involves a certain amount of inaccurate information because we are not quite certain whether, when we see an aeroplane going down, it has actually been destroyed or not, and we think it much better at present not to give any information at all rather than to give inaccurate information.
§ Mr. BILLINGIf you are not sure when the aeroplane is going down, how do you decide at some future date whether it is lost—by seeking information from the other side?