§ 23. Colonel Oliver Pooleasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will state the number of persons employed in the N.F.S. at Market Drayton, Shropshire; the cost of maintaining this service; the number of fires attended in the last twelve months; and whether similar conditions exist in the N.F.S. throughout the country.
§ Mr. EdeThere are 13 whole-time and seven retained firemen stationed in Market Drayton. The cost of their wages is approximately £3.000 a year. Fifty calls were answered during the year ending 30th October, of which 42 were to fires. As regards the last part of the Question, circumstances differ as between station and station and from one fire area to another, and it is not possible to make any general comparison.
§ Colonel PooleIs the right hon. Gentleman aware that Market Drayton is the centre of an important agricultural district where farm workers are in great demand, and that it is felt that the excessive number of men employed in this fire service could be reduced?