I move:
That a supplementary sum not exceeding £559,620 be granted to defray the Charge which will come in course of payment during the year ending 31st March, 1947, for the Army and the Army Reserve (including certain Grants-in-Aid) under the Defence Forces (Temporary Provisions) Acts, and for certain administrative Expenses in connection therewith; for Expenses in connection with the trial and detention of certain persons (No. 28 of 1939, No. 1 of 1940 and No. 16 of 1940, etc.); for certain Expenses under the Offences Against the State Acts, 1939 and 1940 (No. 13 of 1939 and No. 2 of 1940) and the Air-raid Precautions Act, 1939 (No. 21 of 1939); for Reserve Medical Supplies for Civilian Hospitals; for certain Expenses of the Local Defence Force, 1941 to 1946; for Expenses in connection with the issue of Medals, etc.; for Expenses in connection with the Production of certain Chemicals for Sale; for certain Expenses in connection with Blood Transfusion; and for the Expenses of the Bureau of Military History.
The explanation for this Supplementary Vote of £559,620 is briefly as follows:—
Under sub-head A, we require an additional sum of £335,500, partly to meet the increase in Army pay which became operative on September 1st, 1946, partly to meet a sum of £33,500 in respect of arrears of deferred pay, and partly to meet increased expenditure due to the fact that many men, especially those on the higher rates of pay, asked to have their demobilisation deferred until they had made suitable arrangements for their resettlement in civilian life. The increased rates of Army pay for all ranks have already been promulgated and are about 25 per cent. over the previous rates. In the case of deferred pay, for which £33,500 is required, this is a relic of the increase in pay granted to the Army during the emergency. That increase was six-pence a day for all non-commissioned ranks as from 29th September, 1942, but was not payable until the date of discharge or the end of the emergency. When framing the annual Estimate for 1946-47 in December, 1945, it was thought that this problem would be almost solved by 31st March, 1946, and accordingly in that Estimate we provided a sum of only £1,000. Actually, however, claims totalling about £34,500 have had to be dealt with during the financial year.
Under sub-head A (4), which deals with emergency gratuities and re-enlistment bounties, we have the main cause of the Supplementary Estimate. In the original Estimate of £770,000, it was considered that a sum of £755,000 would complete, for all practical purposes, the payment of emergency gratuities, in addition to the balance of £15,000 for re-enlistment bounties. Further, owing to the deferment of demobilisation during the first three months of 1946, we surrendered under this heading on 31st March, 1946, the sum of £91,267, so that in effect that unexpected amount had to be met out of the £755,000 provided in the current annual Estimate. Owing to the same factor of deferment of demobilisation, the rate of gratuity payable was higher than anticipated, so that we now find that an additional sum of £426,000 is required. I might mention that against the £755,000 for emergency gratuities for which the Estimate provides, we have expended up to the end of January, 1947, £1,163,927, so that for the last two months of the year only £17,073 is being sought.
The increase of £77,000 on the sum required for the payment of marriage allowance under sub-head B is due partly again to the deferment of demobilisation and partly to the increased rates of marriage allowance which became operative on 1st September, 1946. In this connection, it will be appreciated that many married men elected to remain in the Army until they were in a position to provide for their families in civilian life.
Sub-head C provides for the payment of civilians attached to units and here a sum of £83,500 is required. In this case, the increase is due to tradesmen and technicians leaving the Army more quickly than we had anticipated. With the resumption of industrial activities after the emergency, these men obtained civilian employment and, accordingly, left the Army as soon as such employment offered. Meanwhile, barracks had to be maintained, and works in progress completed, so that there was no alternative but to use civilian in place of military labour.
The main cause of the excess under sub-head E, pay of officers of medical service, was the payment of arrears to certain officers of that service following an agreement reached with the medical association. A dispute existed for several years regarding the interpretation of the regulation dealing with the pay of such officers, and the agreement arrived at involved a payment of arrears totalling £20,471. The balance of £3,779 now required is due to the new rates of pay consequent on the agreement.
Of the £42,500 required under sub-head E for provisions and allowances in lieu, £20,000 is what may be described as a book-keeping or accounting entry, because it represents a purchase of supplies issued on repayment, and a contra compensating entry for the same amount appears under sub-head Z as an Appropriation-in-Aid of the Vote. The remaining £22,500 is due to the increased cost in the price of rations and in the amount of ration allowance payable.
Under sub-head M, clothing and equipment, two factors operated to form the increase of £34,500. The first was that men on demobilisation or discharge took a cash allowance in lieu of clothes and, hence, an additional sum of about £20,000 is required for such allowances. The second factor is that we are providing, tentatively, a sum of £14,500 for the purchase of new walking-out uniforms for other ranks.
As things stand at the moment, it is not certain whether it will be possible to obtain delivery of the uniforms during the present financial year. The sum of £14,500 does not, of course, represent the total cost of such uniforms when all the men are fitted out with them.
The £14,900 required under sub-head F is really a revote. In 1941-42 we ordered a quantity of ammunition which was not delivered. When framing the original Estimate for 1946-47, we did not expect that delivery would be made during that year, and, accordingly, provided only a token sum of £10. During the year, however, delivery was effected. I might mention that this indent was one of the few not cancelled at the termination of the emergency.
The sum of £300 set out under sub-head P (3) represents outstanding claims in respect of services rendered in connection with blood transfusion. Thus we owe the Office of Public Works £277 for rent, adaptation and repairs to the premises used for the purpose, and the balance for various other items.
Sub-head R deals with expenditure on fuel, light and water in kind. This sub-head has always been calculated on a capitation basis and, for many years, the cost was fivepence a head for all ranks of the Army. Owing to the fact that during the emergency the soldiers cut their own turf, the amount per head was reduced from 5d. to 3d. and this was followed in the original Estimate. Army-won turf is now exhausted, however, and, consequently, any turf required will cost more.
The £9,400 needed under sub-head U is a relic of the emergency and represents an amount additional to that provided for and actually paid to owners of private property damaged or commandeered during military occupation.
The excess under sub-head X (Incidental Expenses) is mainly due to advertisements in connection with the drive for additional recruits for the Army.
The token sum of £5 asked for under sub-head Y represents a new service, the establishment, under the Department, of a Bureau of Military History, 1913-1921. The Government has decided to establish such a bureau for the purpose of collecting material relating to military activities in securing national independence during the period 1913-1921. This will include: (1) the examination of existing records (including material furnished in connection with applications for military service pensions, if and so far as such material could properly be made available); (2) collection of additional material; (3) the arrangement of material so as to make it readily available for use in due course in the preparation of a history or histories of the period.
The bureau, which will be assisted by an advisory committee, will consist of a director, three full-time members, and one part-time member, in addition to a small clerical staff.
Of the £16,300 required for An FÓrsa Cosanta Áitiúil under sub-head Y (3) £15,000 is really a revote. In a Supplementary Estimate for the year 1945-46, the House approved of a sum of £15,000 for the Force, but, owing to the fact that the reorganisation was not fully completed before the end of March, 1946, the payment was withheld and has now to be met during the current year.
The expenditure on the 14 sub-heads mentioned thus amounts to the gross sum of £1,103,830, but this is offset by credits or savings in two other directions. The first is a surplus of £48,640 in respect of appropriations in aid of the Vote. These receipts arise from a variety of sources, but, in the main, they represent the sale of boots to members of An Fórsa Cosanta Áitiúil and a refund in respect of military stores overcharged in a previous year.
The second offset is from savings on other sub-heads of the Vote, and represent a large and varied number of items. Speaking generally, however, they may be summarised under five headings, as follows:—(1) the deferring of the purchases of stores, £261,020; (2) the reduction in certain services, £65,850; (3) saving on the Construction Corps, £40,900; (4) savings on annual training of reserve, £64,800; (5) unemployment insurance, £63,000. Total: £495,570. Hence the net amount required is £559,620.
