§ Brigadier-General Sir OWEN THOMASasked the First Commissioner of Works 76W when the tenants of offices at Carlton House, Regent Street, who compulsorily vacated that building to make room for the Wheat Commission, will be reinstalled in their offices; whether he is aware that 30 per cent. of the staff of the Wheat Commission have been demobilised, and why a proportionate number of rooms at Carlton House have not been made available for displaced tenants; and whether he can give an assurance that tenants, the leases of whose temporary premises terminate-within three months of the declaration of peace, will be reinstated in their permanent offices at Carlton House before the expiration of the leases of such temporary premises?
§ Sir ALFRED MONDThe offices at Carlton House, Regent Street, will be returned to the tenants as and when the reduction in the staff of the Wheat Commission (over which I have no control) permits. The first floor of the premises is in fact being surrendered at the present time, and it is hoped to release another floor at an early date. With regard to the second part of the question, the staff of the Commission (which is in occupation of other premises besides Carlton House) has in fact decreased only 7 per cent, and not 30 per cent. as stated; and as regards the last part of the question, so far as can at present be foreseen, it is hoped to be able to reinstate all the tenants in question. who are desirous of returning, before the expiration of their temporary tenancies.