§ Mr. GOLDSTONEasked the Under-Secretary of State for War (1) whether any arrangements are being made for troops at Sheerness to be housed in huts so that the congestion of population may be relieved; and (2) whether the medical officer's report for the Town of Sheerness has consistently complained of the overcrowding during the past few years; and, if so, whether he will explain why a number of soldiers have been billeted in the town during the last two winters?
§ Mr. TENNANTThe total number of troops billeted in Sheerness has never at any time been near the number for whom, according to the police, who are the billeting authority, there has been available accommodation. I am not aware that the medical authorities have ever made any complaint, but the first part of Question 5 should properly be addressed to the President of the Local Government Board. Huts for about 4,000 men would have been completed before now had it not been for difficulties arising from the special railway and trade conditions incident to a state of war.
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