GREATEST SALE OF ALL TIMES

Shannon News, 13 May 1927, Page 3

GREATEST SALE OF ALL TIMES

CLEANING UP lATTER OF WAR. LIQUIDATION AND DISPOSALS COMMISSION. LONDON, March *2O. The biggest clearance sale in h' 3 " tory ends at midnight on March 01, and there goes out o| existence, its praises yet unsung, a Government Commission, which since the war has brought substantial relief to the taxpayer. This disappearance of the Liquidation and Disposals Commission will be regretted most of all by future Chancellors of the Exchequer, for m Us task of selling Britain’s costly litter of war it has provided handsome sums for the sorely-perplexed Budgetmakers.

Though the Commission as such breathes its last on March 31, its beneficient services will be felt for some years to come. Handsome sums, have yet to come to hand, an;l for the next four years at least there will be small 1 windfalls for the Exchequer.

Exactly what Mr. Churchill is receiving this year id yet to be disclosed but it is probable (writes a “Daily Chronicle” representative) that the sum will not fall short of last year’s figures of £6,195,171 Is. sd. (This cost only £585,979. 19s lid. to collect). Since it began its operations on January 1, 1919, the Commission lias realised just on £700,000,000 in sales. Some money—the comparatively small sums of £10,000,000 to £15,000,000 —has still to be collected and the Treasury will act with customary zeal, as debt collectors. Certain factoiies for sale have been handed over to the War Office for disposal. These should produce about £1,000,000. Nearly all the debts to be gathered by the Treasury are good debts ; representing money, advanced to authorities for housing schemes and to private firms for plant. A few law suits are pending, and the conduct of these is being transferred to the Treasury. There will also be transferred on March 31 a few civil servants with special knowledge of liquidation work. - Thus the Commission cease 3 to exist. World-Wide Task.

Its work carried out first under Sir Howard Frank and latterly under Sir Baniql Neylan, has been a feat of organisation almost as great as the carrying on of the war, and the Commission goes down with a reputation of having accomplished well a mighty task.

It had to tackle dumps of ammunition on all fronts as well as property scattered all over, the world —in China Canada, Irak, Palestine and Macedonia. It has sold lands, factories, roads, railways, steamfers, barges, horses, medical stores, furniture, explosives, pencils, typewriters and raw materials of all sorts.

Valuers and salesmen were sent to all parts. Much of the material was scattered and had to be collected. We had something like 2000 river <praft scattered over the canals of Franco and Belgium. All" these had to be brought together.

Many of the customers paid cash. France and Belgium gave £43.000,000 for goods; India, £10,000,000; the United States and Canada £3,000,000. Italy gave us £2,500,000 for the property we left behind.

Britain Buys Most.

But British buyers have taken the most, and have paid the Commission nearly £25,000,000. Nothing was too small, nothing too large, for the Commission’s agents to take und* r their wing and sell as advantageously as possible Millions of pounds worth of “horses and other animals” were sold i:t home and abroad. Not all the work was salesmanship

however. In Great Britain more than 420,000 tons of various descriptions of shell had first to be broken do\n, and large quantities of poison gas and soil that had been contaminated by mustard gas and by T.N.T. residues were dumped in the sea. In all 200,000 tons of dangerous material found a fitting grave in the' deep. This work was carried out without a mishap at a cost of £500.000. Then again, many buildings which were used for the manufacture of poison gasses had to be made healthy. As the work of the Commission

lessened the personnel was rapidly reduced. At one time it numbered 47.000, in 1923 it fell to 3742, in 1924 to 1418.

At the moment there are fewer

than 100 men at the depleted depots, and only a staff of 20 at Sir Daniel Neylan’s headquarters. These will disperse on March 31 some absorbed by the Treasury, and the greatest sale of all tyne will officially be closed. ■ ■