§ 48. Mr. Martin Lindsayasked the Minister of Defence whether he is now in a position to make a statement about the reduced stocks of 303 rifles.
§ The Prime MinisterAs I stated in the Defence Debate on 6th December last, we had over 5 million rifles at the end of the war and we now have rather less than half that number. The stocks at the end of the war included about 188 1 million American rifles of various types; the present stocks include about 300,000, 303 rifles which have been produced since the war. More than 3 million therefore have been disposed of in one way or another.
Of these, nearly 1 million have gone to Allied and Commonwealth countries, about 800,000 were handed over to India, Pakistan and Burma on the withdrawal of our forces, and about 500,000 are accounted for by wastage in Palestine, Korea and other overseas theatres and by destruction in a serious fire at Weedon Ordnance Depot in 1950. The bulk of the remaining 950,000, which were considered to be beyond repair, were disposed of as scrap.
§ Lieut.-Colonel LiptonHas the right hon. Gentleman any figures showing the number of these rifles that were handed to the Egyptian Government?
§ The Prime MinisterI will certainly endeavour to have that figure looked out. It might be of interest to both sides of the House.