§ Major GLYNasked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury what has been the total sum paid by the Slough Trading Company for the acquisition of that property; what was the original estimate of the Disposal Board of the value of the property and what it contained; and what was the sum that the Slough Trading Company originally agreed to pay when it entered into possession of the property?
§ Mr. McNEILLI presume my hon. and gallant Friend refers to the depot property at Slough, which was sold with all surplus stocks of mechanical transport at home and abroad to the company, under an agreement made on the 9th April, 1920. For the depot property the company actually paid to the Government a total of £1,983,899 3s. and are due to pay a further sum of £81,438 15s. by 16 half-yearly instalments, the first of which becomes payable on the 31st December next.
The total cost of the depot property to the Government was, approximately, £2,500,000, and the amount which the Slough Trading Company originally agreed to pay for that property was £3,350,000. As regard the circumstances under which the lesser sum was accepted from the company, would refer my hon. and gallant Friend to paragraph 61 of the Report of the Comptroller and Auditor-General on the Civil Service Appropriation Accounts for 1924–25, from which it will be observed that a valuation by an independent valuer of the depot property as between a willing seller and a willing purchaser was made as at 31st December, 1924, and amounted to £508,585.