69. Mr. Driberģasked the Secretary of State for War why some of the Dutch troops who landed in Java on or about 9th March, were permitted to wear British type equipment, bear British type arms and be transported in British vehicles.
Mr. Bellenģer:Well before the end of the war the responsibility for the provision of equipment for the greater proportion of those Dutch troops who were to take part in Allied operations in the Far East, including landings in the East Indies, was accepted by the British authorities. The fact that the Japanese war ended before these Dutch troops arrived in the Far East was not taken to mean that our responsibility for equipping them had ceased. The Dutch armaments industry is, of course, not yet in a position to provide equipment for its own forces.