§ Mr. Evelyn Kingasked the Secretary of State for Defence why the United States Army Floating Equipment Reserve was not advised to use Portland Harbour instead of Poole, in the light of the employment it would have provided in Portland.
§ Mr. FoleyPortland was one of the fifteen possible sites suggested to the United States Army, but from their point of view it had some disadvantages: there was a shortage of suitable space and buildings for storage ashore and of hard-standings or slipways; there was also a lack of the skilled and unskilled workers required for ship repair; for this type of craft the harbour was not sufficiently protected from the weather and there were the competing requirements of other commercial projects.