asked the Minister of Pensions if he is aware that a disabled ex-Service man, case No. 2/MH/2984, is unable to follow his employment on a seed farm at Kelvedon, Essex, because his surgical boots are completely unserviceable; that renewal of boots was due last December and that this man was remeasured for them at a Ministry of Pension's clinic on 14th January last; that he has for seven months addressed repeated appeals to the Department's regional office at Cambridge, but has still not received his new boots; and if he will expedite the provision of these boots and explain the cause of this long delay.

The order, which was placed on 16th January, two days after the man was measured, involved the making of a new last by the contractor. Owing to a shortage of skilled labour there is, in general, delay in the delivery of new boots and the position is especially difficult when a new last has to be made. In this case, delivery of the new boots has been promised within a fortnight from now. Appropriate allowances will be paid for any period during which the pensioner has been prevented from working. To help in remedying the position as a whole, some disabled ex-Service men have been taken into training, and a number of European volunteer workers have recently been brought to this country and are employed at the factory of our principal contractors.