§ Sir A. Knoxasked the Secretary of State for War if, in view of the shortage of beer for the British Forces in Italy, he will recommend N.A.A.F.I. to send out a competent brewer as constructive consultant to get breweries going again and see that the troops get the beer at the place and time required.
§ Sir J. GriggAn expert brewer is already in Italy advising N.A.A.F.I. on these matters.
Mr. E. P. Smithasked the Secretary of State for War (1) whether he is aware that men serving in the R.E.M.E. base workshops in Italy have recently been issued with biscuits instead of the bread ration, although at the same time Italian civilians have been drawing their issue of fresh bread; if he is aware that Italian civilians employed in the cookhouses are stealing our men's food without any action being taken against them; and if he will take steps to remedy both these grievances;
(2) whether he is aware that there has been serious delay in issuing winter clothing to the troops in Italy; and if he can give an assurance that steps have been taken to remedy this.
§ Sir J. GriggThe hon. Member has sent me the letter on the basis of which he has put on the paper these somewhat sweeping general charges. As I understand it the complaints originate from one man in one unit—a base workshop of the R.E.M.E. The first complaint was that the particular man had only just got his winter blouse and that thick shirts had not yet been distributed in the unit, although the issue of winter clothing was due 10 days earlier. The second was that on one particular day the particular unit had biscuits instead of bread whereas Italian civilians were getting fresh bread. This developed into a statement that every kind of ration is short and the men go definitely hungry owing to Italians stealing the rations and not being punished for it. The complaints as regards the particular unit are being in- 375W vestigated and I will inform the House of the result whatever they are.
In the meantime I will make certain general observations.
- (1) To the best if my belief there are ample supplies of winter clothing in Italy.
- (2) All commands overseas hold part of their reserves of food in tins and in other forms suitable for issue in the heat of battle where ordinary food cannot be prepared. It may be necessary from time to time to issue these reserves in order to replace them by fresh stock. Base units naturally take their share of these issues.
As regards the Italian population in general the allied authorities are only concerned with the the import of sufficient grain or flour to maintain a certain standard of nutrition. In the normal course bread as such is not issued by the allied authorities. It may be, of course, that these particular Italians were working for the military authorities and were given a large part of their wages in kind. In any case the ration of the British soldier is a great deal higher in calorific value than that of the Italians—whether they be ordinary civil population, civil population working for the allied military authorities or members of the Italian forces.