§ Mr. Spensasked the Secretary of State for War whether, when possession is taken for the purposes of military defence works of unoccupied houses, or land, or timber, or other property in any area, any notice is either required to be given, or is, in fact, given to the owners or anyone else; and, if no such notice is given, whether he will arrange for written notice to be given to the clerk of the local authority in which such property is situate, so that there may be some written record available to owners of property so taken?
§ Mr. EdenWhen possession is taken of a property or when work is done on it, the serving of a notice is not required by law. In fact, a notice is served on the occupier wherever possible, and the War Office have recently drawn the attention of General Officers Commanding-in-Chief to this procedure in connection with the programme of defence works. There are, however, many thousands of these works and their construction is of the first urgency; it is probable, therefore, that the serving of notices is sometimes delayed.