§ Mr. HOODasked the Secretary of State for War whether, having regard to the large number of communications Members of the House are receiving from their constituents as to the demobilisation of soldiers and the period of two to four weeks which usually elapses before a reply can be got from the War Office to a letter from a Member of the House, he will, to avoid delays, set up a Department 638W of the War Office to deal promptly with letters received by Members and thus avoid the necessity of asking questions in the House?
§ Mr. CHURCHILLA Department of the War Office already exists to deal with all inquiries on the demobilisation of soldiers, and any inquiry addressed "The Secretary, War Office (Mobilisation)"will be promptly attended to. An examination of the correspondence dealt with by this Department shows that a reply is generally sent within a few days, and when there is any delay it is due to the fact that the letters involve making inquiries of the Record Office or of the unit concerned. The practice of asking questions in the House about individual cases is undesirable, and I hope it will only be resorted to in exceptional circumstances. I may add that the special facilities which I promised last Monday for assisting Members to obtain information at the House about matters of detail connected with demobilisation, etc., were put in operation this afternoon, and will continue to be available in future on Mondays and Thursdays after Question Time.