§ Sir A. HOLBROOKasked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Transport if he will state on what date the rails of the Basingstoke and Alton line, taken up for use as a war-emergency measure, were sent to France; what actual use was made of these lines; and the date on which they were taken into use?
Lieut.-Colonel GUINNESSI have been asked to reply. I cannot state the precise dates on which this track was either sent to France or taken into use there, but the use made of it was to assist in meeting a demand for 200 miles of British permanent way required for military purposes overseas, and the date when this requirement was notified by the Ministry of Munitions to the Railway Executive Committee was the 2nd January, 1917.