§ Viscount WOLMERasked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Shipping Controller whether American troops are stilt being repatriated in British ships; and if so, whether he is aware of the complaints by Canadian soldiers that insufficient shipping has been allotted for their return to Canada, with consequent rioting at Kimmel Park and elsewhere?
§ Colonel L. WILSONCanadian repatriation has the first claim on the shipping: in the North Atlantic which, under normal conditions is sufficient to provide for the conveyance of considerably more than the Canadian authorities require. The 1317W Canadian authorities notify the Ministry of Shipping in advance of the numbers for whom they require conveyance each month, these numbers being limited by the capacity of the railways in Canada to deal with the men. Having allotted ships to carry the numbers required by the Canadian authorities, the balance of shipping available, after meeting Imperial needs, is placed at the disposal of the American authorities for the repatriation of American troops. In the month of February this procedure was followed but, owing to a prolonged strike of ship repairers delaying the preparation of ships, the programme for Canada could not be carried out in its entirety, vessels forming part of that month's programme being detained until March. In order to meet the situation which has arisen His Majesty's Government has specially allocated the "Olympic" to convey 6,000 Canadian troops to Halifax, although the vessel would not, in normal circumstances, be considered suitable for this service.