§ Mr. R. Morganasked the Secretary of State for War whether he is aware that his Department has now requisitioned a vacant shop in one of the principal thoroughfares at Leeds for office purposes and are offering a rental of £100 per annum on the ground that, although the premises are usually let at £500 a year, Government restrictions prevent the shop being let at the higher price; and since such a policy is neither just nor equitable will he give an assurance that it is not the one usually adopted by his Department in its relation with the public?
§ Sir J. GriggThis shop had been empty from February to December, 1942, and circumstances, including the Location of Retail Businesses Order, made it extremely unlikely that it would be let as a shop. The Compensation (Defence) Act, 1939, provides that the compensation payable in respect of the requisitioning of land shall be the sum equal to the rent which might reasonably be expected to be payable by a tenant in occupation of the land during the period for which posses-628W sion of the land is retained, under a lease granted immediately before that period. The War Department, in common with other Departments, is bound by this Act and the War Department valuer's offer was properly based thereon.