§ Sir R. Gowerasked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of War Transport whether there is any objection to the adoption of regulations providing that members of the Mercantile Marine exposed to the risks of torpedoing shall be supplied with an iron ration, to be carried on their persons?
§ Mr. Noel-BakerThis has been considered on several occasions during the war and the conclusion reached has been that, for practical reasons, the carriage of iron rations on the person should not be made compulsory. The rationing of lifeboats and rafts was reviewed last year, and a completely new scale of emergency rations, giving approximately three times the amount of water and largely increased food value, has been brought into operation.