§ Mr. GARDNERasked the Secretary of State for War whether he is aware that road work has been the principal occupation of the roads and communications department in the Southern Command since 1925, and that its plant is adapted for modern road-making and not for the reinstatement of camp sites; will he state the amount of expenditure incurred in the maintenance and improvement of roads under the control of the department during the last 12 months; and whether, in view of the fact that the roads and communications department has a body of men skilled in the work, and possesses its own plant, such as tar-sprayers, lorries, etc., he will reconsider the decision to close the department down and give the work out to contract?
§ Sir L. WORTHINGTON-EVANSAs the salvage and reinstatement work, for which the roads and communications department was primarily designed, has gradually reached completion, the proportion which the road work bore to the total has naturally increased though its actual volume has not. Much of the road plant is worn out and would require re-1794W placement if the organisation were to continue. As regards the second part of the question, £35,000 was allotted during the current financial year for road work. As regards the last part, I regret that it would not be justifiable on financial or administrative grounds to continue this separate organisation indefinitely.