21. Mr. Dugdaleasked the Secretary of State for War how it has come about that 1,000 cases of new Government radar equipment are now lying in Messrs. Cashmore's scrap yards at West Bromwich.
§ Mr. HeadThese stores weresurplus to our needs. They were ordered in 1945 but, owing to technical developments, the order was suspended in 1948. The stocks were declared obsolete last year and sold by tender in the normal way last December.
Mr. DugdaleIs it not possible for these stocks to be sold to some other country or people? Are they only of use to the War Office and to nobody else? Is this not a possible example of the Government's failure to avoid waste in the Services, a failure which comes ill from a Government who have so often talked about avoiding waste?
§ Mr. HeadThese stores, as I have said, were ordered long ago. They are of a type which I do not want to reveal in the House, but which I will tell the right hon. Member about privately, and are of use only to this country because of their particular function. There was no possibility of selling them to other countries and they are now obsolete and of no use to us.