§ Mr. Granvilleasked the Secretary of State for War if he will consider the suggestion that Servicemen due for demobilisation at the end of the year, now serving in hot climatic countries, be repatriated to this country during the summer in order that, they may gradually become acclimatised before the winter months set in.
§ Mr. LawsonI regret that it would be impracticable to adopt the hon. Member's suggestion. Owing to the acute shortage of manpower in the Army due to the rapid progress of the release scheme it is becoming increasingly difficult to replace.essential personnel who are posted to the United Kingdom on release or on Python, and if those becoming due for release at the end of the year were repatriated some months in advance of their release date an already most difficult situation would become even more acute.