HC Deb 12 June 1947 vol 438 c1340
59. Mr. George Jeger

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will arrange to have civilian respirators collected and the materials utilised for more useful purposes by the salvage organisation.

Mr. Ede

As many as practicable of the bulkier and specialised types of civilian respirators, which were not personal issues have been collected and these, with unissued stocks of all types, are being held in central storage as an emergency reserve. The salvage value of the materials of which these ordinary types are made would not, I am advised, justify special collection, and on balance it is preferable that these respirators should still remain entrusted to the custody of the public.

Mr. Sorensen

In view of the probable nature of the next war, is it not a waste of time and labour to gather and store these objects.

Mr. Ede

I am not going to prophesy about the nature of the next war, or whether some of the horrors of the past may not be repeated if we had such a misfortune.