§ 85. Sir J. NORTON-GRIFFITHSasked the Secretary of State for War what has been done to carry out the promises of Army Council Instruction No. 1374, of December, 1918, which referred to the disposal 1340 of money accumulated from canteen and other sources; seeing that the United Services Fund was instituted in order to carry out such instruction, that the United Services Fund has now ceased to function owing to lack of money, and that a profit of ten million pounds was made during the War on overseas canteens alone, how much of such profit was handed over to the United Services Fund; and what has become of the money?
§ Sir R. SANDERSI would refer my hon. and gallant Friend to the figures which I gave on the 22nd instant to my hon. Friend the Member for Ashton-under-Lyme, to those given on page 5 of the Report of the Committee presided over by my hon. Friend the Member for the Ecclesall Division of Sheffield, and to the statement made by my hon. and gallant Friend the Financial Secretary in the course of the Debate on the 22nd instant. My hon. and gallant Friend will see that the gross total which it is hoped to pay to the United Services Fund is estimated at £7,000,000, and that the question of the disposal of any other assets derived from the trading of the Expeditionary Force Canteens and the Navy and Army Canteen Board must await the completion of the accounts, the preparation of which was recommended by the Committee which I have mentioned. Of the £7,000,000, £3,849,000 has already been paid, and I hope to make a statement regarding the balance at an early date. I understand that the United Services Fund has not yet ceased to function owing to lack of money.