asked the Home Secretary whether he will arrange for gas masks to be offered for sale as they are in Germany, so that those members of the public who wish to do so may get accustomed to the wearing of them?

Gas masks for the whole of the civilian population are being manufactured by the Government. It is one of the duties placed upon local authorities by the Air-Raid Precautions Act to arrange for the distribution of the masks, and they will shortly be asked to instruct air raid wardens to visit all households and to give the members an opportunity of trying on the masks. It is not proposed to put these masks on sale to the public.