Skip to main content

Prisoners Of War (Transport)

Volume 414: debated on Tuesday 23 October 1945

The text on this page has been created from Hansard archive content, it may contain typographical errors.

asked the Secretary of State for War how many coaches and passenger-carrying vehicles, with seats in them, are being used to convey prisoners of war to and from their work.

In some isolated cases civilian motor coaches, up to a total of about four, have had to be hired to convey prisoners of war employed by the War Department to and from their work, when military or other load carrying vehicles have been unavailable. As a general rule, only load carrying vehicles, sometimes provided with temporary seats, or troop carrying vehicles when available, are used for the purpose.

asked the Secretary of State for War why it took from 1st September until 12th October to decide that the transport of prisoners of war to farms, from camps in Eastern Command, which was the subject of a letter to him on the former date, was not the responsibility of his Department.

I much regret the delay which occurred in this case; but until the matter had been investigated locally I was unaware that all the transport in question had been arranged from other than Army sources. As I explained to my hon. Friend the Member for South Cardiff (Mr. Callaghan) on 16th October, 1945, there has been recently some unavoidable delay in answering letters owing to the enormous mass of correspondence now being handled at the War Office.