Sir J. -Mellorasked the Secretary of State for War what authority over the persons engaged in his Department upon irregular work for Glass Developments, Limited, was held by the brother of the managing director of the said company; what man-hours were expended upon the work; what weight of paper was used which was Crown property; and upon what authority and pretext was this obtained from store.
§ Mr. ShinwellThe official referred to in the first part of the Question was at the time administratively responsible in Whitehall for the photoprinting subsec-370W tion, situated in another part of London, under the immediate supervision of a technical officer. The number of man-hours expended on the work irregularly performed is not known, since, in breach of standing instructions, no record was kept of the time worked on the job. The paper used weighed 3½ hundredweights, the greater part of which was the weight of manilla covers. The paper appears to have been part of the daily floating stock of very much greater volume drawn for the ordinary work of the establishment. There is no evidence that any false pretext was used to obtain these relatively small quantities from store.