HC Deb 27 March 1956 vol 550 c1944
6. Lieut.-Colonel Lipton

asked the Secretary of State for War why the paint was removed from coal buckets at Chelsea Barracks so that they could be varnished instead.

Mr. Head

This has certainly not happened since the present battalion has been at Chelsea Barracks, and I can find no earlier evidence about it.

Lieut.-Colonel Lipton

If, as appears to be the case, the keeping of buckets clean and unscratched is a major problem, could not the right hon. Gentleman arrange with his right hon. Friend the Minister of Fuel and Power to see that coal is delivered to Army establishments by the National Coal Board in little cellophane packets?

Mr. Head

At first sight the suggestion of the hon. and gallant Gentleman sounds impracticable. I would say that, so far as I am able to find out, the practice complained of has not happened in the past.

Sir T. Moore

Could my right hon. Friend elicit from the hon. and gallant Member for Brixton (Lieut.-Colonel Lipton) the reason for these continual gibes against the Army which, after all, gave him the title which he seems to like to use?

Mr. Head

rose—

Mr. Speaker

Order. The Minister is not responsible for eliciting information from the hon. and gallant Member for Brixton (Lieut.-Colonel Lipton).