§ 75. Major-General Sir Alfred Knoxasked the Secretary of State for War whether he will consider the possiblity of handing over the whole organisation for the supply of food and clothing parcels to our men in Germany to the American Red Cross?
§ Sir A. KnoxHas this idea been given serious consideration? Is it not worth serious consideration to enable these parcels to be sent direct to Marseilles, without the present delay?
§ Mr. LawNo, Sir; I do not think it would have that effect, and I do not think it would be any advantage at this stage.
§ 76. Sir A. Knoxasked the Secretary of State for War whether, as in the six months July to December, 1940, out of the 491,508 food parcels and 23,162 clothing parcels despatched by the Red Cross from this country only one in four of the food parcels and one in 20 of the clothing parcels reached Germany, he will indicate where the bulk of these parcels 1083 now lies, and what prospect there is of rescuing them for our men in Germany?
§ Mr. LawIn making his calculations, my hon. and gallant Friend has ignored the very large number of parcels in transit from this country. It must be remembered that it takes from eight to 12 weeks for a parcel to reach Germany, and a corresponding period for the notification of its receipt at the camps to arrive here. In any case, as my right hon. Friend explained to the Rouse on Tuesday, the Government and the British Red Cross are doing everything they can to expedite the delivery of parcels, and there is evidence to show that parcels are now arriving in the camps in far larger quantities than before.
§ Sir A. KnoxDoes my hon. Friend realise that this question is founded on the reply given by the Secretary of State for War on 22nd January, and that these numbers are those of parcels that were handed over by the Red Cross and of those that crossed the German frontier in the six months ended 31st December?
§ Mr. LawI think that my hon. and gallant Friend has misinterpreted the reply. He perhaps saw in the table that in December, say, 150,000 parcels were collected from the. Red Cross and in the same month only 81,000 arrived in Germany. I imagine that he has put the two figures together. The 81,000 should not be related to the 150,000 which left in December, but to the 96,000 which left in October.
§ Sir A. KnoxIn spite of that, is it not true that more than half these parcels do not reach Germany at all? Where are they?