§ 19. Mr. Boyd-Carpenterasked the Secretary of State for Air when the hon. Member for Kingston-upon-Thames can hope to receive a reply to his letters of 3rd January, 1946, and 8th May, 1946, on the subject of an award to the widow of the late Wing-Commander Nettleton. V.C.
§ Mr. de FreitasI hope to be able to write to the hon. Member early next week.
§ Mr. Boyd-CarpenterDoes that mean that the hon. Gentleman accepts as proper a delay of 11 months in dealing with an individual case in his Department?
§ Mr. de FreitasNo, Sir. This letter was one of nearly 4,000 which were received in the Under-Secretary's office from Members during January, and I regret to say that it was lost and has only just been found.
§ Mr. Boyd-CarpenterThen why could not a statement that the letter had been lost have been given to me when I sent a reminder in May?
§ Mr. de FreitasThe papers were entirely lost—and I am not trying to defend that—and it was impossible to say to what letter the hon. Member's letter referred.