§ Mr. Stokesasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs why houses are still being requisitioned all over the British zone by the British Army of Occupation nearly three years after the termination of hostilities; whether he is aware that in the town of Schleswig a further 90 houses are being requisitioned for occupation purposes despite the fact that the population of the town has increased from 22,000 to about 40,00o since the end of hostilities; that 151 houses have already been requisitioned; that the town is without sewerage and according to the Medical Board any further crowding together of the population will mean acute danger of disease; and whether he will give instructions that this requisitioning is to be stopped.
§ Mr. BevinSome new requisitioning must always be necessary in consequence of re-deployment of the Occupation Forces, but, on balance, de-requisitioning greatly exceeds requisitioning. In the town of Schleswig, 48 married quarters, not 90 houses, are being requisitioned for Service families, but an equivalent number of quarters is being de-requisitioned in the neighbouring town of Plön to accommodate the Germans displaced in Schleswig. The number of houses under requisition in Schleswig is Ho and not 151 as stated. The town is not completely without sewerage and the question of further crowding together of the population will not arise.