§ 13. Air Commodore Harveyasked the Secretary of State for War if he will make a statement regarding the loss of military equipment in the Middle East.
§ Mr. BellengerI understand that the hon. and gallant Member is referring to recent Press reports regarding losses of arms and equipment from Army dumps in Egypt. So far as I am aware, there are no British Army dumps in the area of the Egyptian desert referred to in these reports. All scrap in this area has been disposed of by contract in consequence of our withdrawal from the Delta.
As regards military equipment under War Department control in the Canal Zone, there have been and continue to be considerable losses, both from depots and from stores in transit, in some cases as the result of armed raids. This is not 1120 surprising in view of the difficulties of providing adequate protection throughout the wide areas involved. These difficulties have, of course, been intensified by the reduction of personnel due to the run-down of the Army and the movement of stores during the evacuation of the Delta, but every effort is being made to meet the situation by the use of all available methods of prevention.
§ Air-Commodore HarveyCan the Minister give any rough idea of what the figure would amount to?
§ Mr. BellengerNo, Sir. I cannot give that information at the moment.