§ 78. Sir W. Darlingasked the Minister of Supply to state approximately, in money, how much surplus stores being public property have been disposed of without any prices having been fixed in advance; and on what general grounds is this method adopted as the best method of disposal.
§ Mr. WilmotThe only surplus stores disposed of in this way were those transferred to the Governments of Italy and India as part of general settlements with those countries. The terms of the settlement with the Italian Government were set out in the White Paper (Cmd. 7118), the value of surplus stores handed over to the Italian Government being estimated therein at £75 million. By arrangement with the Government of India, stores in India declared surplus at or after 1st April, 1947, became the property of the Government of India. This transfer has not yet been completed. It is not possible at the present time to estimate the value of the stores affected by this arrangement.