§ 28. Mr. HICKSasked the Financial Secretary to the War Office on what grounds the clothing allowance of 2s. 3d. per month hitherto granted to limber gunners at Larkhill, Salisbury Plain, has been reduced from 1st April to lst. 7d. per month; and seeing that an unestablished messenger in London receives the uniform of jacket, vest and two pairs of trousers per annum, valued at over £2, why a provincial employé, who is expected to provide himself with a similar suit of clothes, only receives for the purpose 19s. per annum?
§ The FINANCIAL SECRETARY to the WAR OFFICE (Mr. Duff Cooper)The reduction in the clothing allowance of limber gunners from 2s. 3d. a month to 1s. 7d. a month is accounted for entirely by price-reductions in the articles of clothing which the allowance is intended to cover. The conditions of service of the limber gunners are not the same as those of messengers in offices in London, who receive replacement of clothing in kind annually.
§ Mr. HICKSDoes not the hon. Gentleman think that the disparity between £2 in one instance and 19s. in the other is too severe?
§ Mr. COOPERNo, Sir.
Major HARVEYIs there any difference between the clothing allowances of 662 limber gunners stationed at Larkhill and those stationed in other parts of the country?
§ Mr. COOPERNot as far as I am aware.