§ THE EARL OF CORK AND ORRERYMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
§ [The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they are aware of the serious deficiency in the quality of the winter clothing presently on issue to our troops in B.A.O.R.; what action is being taken to rectify this deficiency, and when can an improved issue be expected.]
§ LORD WINTERBOTTOMMy Lords, I could not agree that there is any serious deficiency. The present scale of winter clothing was introduced only after extensive troop trials to ensure its adequacy. In order to take advantage of technological progress in this field, however, the whole range of combat clothing for temperate areas, including B.A.O.R., has been under review. Prototypes of improved garments have been produced and trials held. Until the results of these trials have been evaluated I cannot give a date for the introduction of the new items.
§ THE EARL OF CORK AND ORRERYMy Lords, I thank the noble Lord for that not entirely reassuring reply. May I ask him whether he is aware that, so far as my experience has shown, there is a good deal of opinion expressed—it has been expressed to me and to others who were on a recent Parliamentary visit to B.A.O.R.—by all ranks, from private soldiers to generals, about the quantity and the quality of the clothing. It appears also to be true—I do not know whether the noble Lord is aware of this—that there is a general expectation that the troop trials, whatever they may be, are not likely to produce an adequate scale of clothing within the next three years. Would the noble Lord care to comment on that?
§ LORD WINTERBOTTOMMy Lords, the main comment I should like to make is that the past winter has been a particularly beastly one. The snow has been lying for 137 days on the central German plain, and of course troops have suffered as a result. The quality of clothes supplied, as indeed the standard of equipment, is high. But we are not satisfied. Studies are taking place, and we hope that even better qualities of winter clothing will be issued to the troops after the studies have been evaluated.
§ THE EARL OF CORK AND ORRERYMy Lords, can the noble Lord give a sightly clearer indication about the length of time that this will take?
§ LORD WINTERBOTTOMNo, my Lords; but I will inquire and I will write to the noble Lord.
THE EARL OF SELKIRKMy Lords, may I ask the noble Lord why the troops suffer more because the winter is long? If the clothes are adequate for one day, surely they are adequate for another.
§ LORD WINTERBOTTOMMy Lords, that is not entirely true. For instance, under extreme conditions a rum ration is issued, but not everyone would want it for 137 days. Basically the fact is that this was an exceptionally hard winter and the standard of clothes issued to the troops was, in the opinion of many of them, not quite equal to the severity of the winter.
§ LORD FRASER OF LONSDALEMy Lords, is the noble Lord aware that in 1916, when I was a soldier, I had a rum ration every day?
§ LORD NAPIER AND ETTRICKMy Lords, bearing in mind what the noble Lord has just said about the particularly severe winter, is he aware that there are at present insufficient heavy duty pullovers to supply all the troops in B.A.O.R.?
§ LORD WINTERBOTTOMMy Lords, the noble Lord is correct. For the next winter heavy wool jerseys will be available for each man in B.A.O.R.
§ LORD MERRIVALEMy Lords, for the uninformed, can the Minister say where the deficiency arose in the quality of the winter clothing?
§ LORD WINTERBOTTOMMy Lords, the noble Lord may have noticed that I used the words, "temperate areas". Unfortunately, the central German plain is not particularly temperate and last winter was particularly bad. The quality of winter clothing has not been criticised for the last few years.