§ " Mr. J. McKayasked the Minister of War Transport if he is aware that the liner "Empress of Scotland" arrived in India recently with 5,000 Service personnel on board and returned to the United Kingdom with less than a quarter of that number of Service personnel; and why this was allowed when Servicemen in India are being denied their disembarkation leave and want of shipping space is given as one of the reasons for the slowness of demobilisation.
§ Mr. BarnesMy hon. Friend appears to have been misinformed. The ship on her last arrival in India disembarked 3,810 passengers and not 5,000. On leaving Bombay she embarked 3,943, and eventually arrived in this country with 4,212 on board, as the result of further embarkations in the Middle East.