§ 2.44 p.m.
§ LORD CALVERLEYMy Lords, I beg to ask the question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
§ [The question was as follows:
§ To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will allow the donations of relatives and friends of those who sacrificed their lives in France in the Second World War, and who were members of the 49th Division, and were largely recruited from the County of Yorkshire, to be expended upon the erection in France of a permanent memorial to honour the memory of the fallen.]
THE MINISTER OF CIVIL AVIATION (LORD PAKENHAM)My Lords, my right honourable friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer is anxious to do all he can to assist in this and other similar cases, as he has stated in another place. Accordingly, the transfer of a sum not exceeding £5,000 to cover the total expenditure, either in cash or in goods, on the erection of a Divisional Memorial in France will be permitted. I should perhaps add that the transfer of currency for such purposes will be possible only where memorials are to be erected in a country whose 1051 currency is soft, as in the case of France, and that it will not be possible in regard to hard currency countries.
§ LORD CALVERLEYMay I say that that answer will give great satisfaction in the North Country?