§ 5. Captain PETER MACDONALDasked the Financial Secretary to the War Office whether, in view of the statement in the Army Appropriation Account to the effect that the taxpayers lost large sums of money through misinterpretation of Regulations for which no one has been financially held responsible, he can state what steps the Department proposes to take in the future to avoid cases of this nature and to see that the Regulations are properly interpreted?
§ Mr. COOPERArmy Regulations contain a large number of detailed instructions which have to be followed by administrative and other officers all over the world; it is inevitable that some misunderstandings and misinterpretations of these instructions should occasionally arise. The losses recorded as due to this cause in the Army Appropriation Account for 1930 are not so considerable as to suggest any widespread misinterpretation of the Regulations. The whole account, as my hon. and gallant Friend is aware, will come before the Committee of Public Accounts in due course.