§ Mr. SNELLasked the Secretary of State for War whether, in connection with the proposed tarnsfer of workmen from the Royal Dockyard at Woolwich, he has satisfied himself that there is ample housing accommodation for them in the districts to which they are to be transferred?
§ Captain KINGThe housing difficulties to which the hon. Member refers exist principally at Didcot, and a Committee, 641W which includes a representative of the Ministry of Health, is now, under the Chairmanship of my noble Friend the Under-Secretary of State, engaged in examining proposals for their solution.
§ Mr. SNELLasked the Secretary of State for War whether he is aware that, in making arrangements for the evacuation of the Royal Dockyard at Woolwich, men of between 50 and 60 years of age and of upwards of 40 years' continuous service have been notified that they must move to Tidworth or Didcot; and that this enforced transfer of their homes and families from the district in which they have resided all their lives is felt to be a great hardship; and will he consider whether the transfer of such men can be obviated?
§ Captain KINGThe policy of transferring certain stores from Woolwich necessarily involves some re-distribution of labour. The employés referred to are pre-War and pivotal men (only one of whom has 40 years' service) who have been moved from Woolwich, where their services are not required, to stations where work is available for them. I, naturally, sympathise with the personal difficulties which these moves unavoidably involve, but if the men in question are to be kept in employment, I see no alternative to their transfer.