I desire to raise a matter of which I have given notice to the Minister of Health, concerning the national camps which are now being dotted about the country. I took a great deal of interest in this Measure when it was being passed through the House earlier in the year, and there is a good deal of public interest in what is going on and what use is to be made of these camps. There was a leading article in the "Times" on the subject only a day or two ago. In the public interest, I feel, it would be desirable for the Minister to make some definite statement on the position. Originally it was intended to make a grant of £1,200,000 for the erection of 5o camps. Owing to the cost involved, it has now been found possible to start the erection of only 31 camps. This raises the point—to which I hope the Minister will pay careful attention—as to whether later on, when the National Camps Corporation have finished their work, it would be right to make a further grant to enable them to carry on with this admirable work which they have so effectively done up to now. It is not a matter about which I expect a decision to-night, but I am sure it ought to receive the attention of the Government.

At present, according to a reply which I received a day or two ago, there are 12 camps actually completed, and a further five will be completed at the end of this month. We have then practically avail- able at the moment 19 camps, and the rest of them, making up the 31, are well on the way towards completion. The startling thing is that, in spite of the fact that we have all these camps available and in prospect, only two are occupied at the present time. One of them is very properly occupied by physically defective children. The other, I was startled to learn, is occupied by the Bank of England. When I first heard that I really began to wonder whether things had come to such a pass that we had Mr. Montagu Norman and Lord Stamp in double-decker beds in some camp in the middle of a wood in some remote part of England. I am glad to learn that things are not as serious as that, and that it is some of the female staff of the Bank who are there ensconced. I am also glad to learn that they have been given notice and they are going. They ought not to have been sent to the camp at all. It was not intended for such a purpose and I venture to think that the Minister of Health was guilty of an error of judgment. If he was not, why does not he allow them to stay there? They are not suitable occupants. It was never intended that civil servants should be sent there, and I am glad to learn that they will not be there much longer.

The Press has been asking, and we naturally ask, why these camps are being built? Nine of them have been ready since nth December. It will not do to say, "We have only just had them in the last few weeks or days." Nine of them were available on nth December. I had an opportunity during the Recess of inspecting some of the camps, and I would like to take this opportunity of most heartily congratulating the National Camps Corporation upon the manner in which they have carried out the great task which has been given to them. They have shown initiative, imagination and energy, and I think they may be proud of the work that they have done. The sites seem to have been well chosen and well laid out, and the buildings in cedar are agreeable to look at. They are tiled with cedar tiles, and I understand that a certain number of Canadians have been brought over here from the Far West in order to do the tiling, which is not readily understood in this country, and to instruct people in this country how this work may be carried out.

These camps are centrally heated. It is a magnificent system of central heating which would be greatly appreciated by many people in this country in the present weather. They are suitable for occupation during the winter months, and even during the coldest winter months. There is electric light. There are four class-rooms for teaching purposes, and there is, in addition, a large dining-hall capable of seating 400 persons, which can also be used for the purpose of teaching, f necessary. There are six dormitories capable of taking, in double-decker beds, 58 children. The kitchens are admirably equipped with the latest machinery. I remember seeing there a machine which was capable of cutting and buttering go pieces of bread per minute without any human activity at all. You can vary the thickness of the bread or butter by the manipulation of the machine. Twenty-live managers have been appointed at a salary of £5 a week each, and with the chefs, who receive £4 a week each, and administrative staff, they are the only persons in the camps. There is this substantial weekly expense incurred for the carefully selected staff but there are no children. It is really a shocking piece of waste which the Government will have to defend and justify in some way. It will not be possible to say that these are new problems suddenly come upon us. They should have been foreseen months ago. Yet nothing has been done.

Recently, however, there has been some sign of life in a Government Department. The Board of Education issued a circular to local authorities throughout the country on 17th January stating the conditions under which these camps would be available for children. Originally, of course, these camps were intended for use by schools in peace time, during the warmer months of the year. It was intended that in war-time they should be used for evacuation purposes but not necessarily for children. When we talked about the Bill the idea was that they should be used for families and not only children. I notice in the circular just sent out by the Board that it is laid down that not less than 150 children shall be sent to any one school. That is the maximum and it seems a strange figure. It is seriously suggested that permission might be given in certain circumstances for 150 children to use the camp when there is room for 350. Obviously there is a large margin of waste of unoccupied premises and I would like to know what possible justification there is for not endeavouring to use these premises to the full. I think the figure of 150 ought to be substantially raised.

There is, no doubt, difficulty about teachers. I am sure there is no more patriotic body in the country than teachers who are accustomed in the ordinary way to looking after children during teaching hours. It has not always been necessary for them to do a great deal beyond that. But in these camps it is clear that some teachers will be on duty 24 hours a day for seven days a week because they have to be on the spot and will be responsible for children day and night. The remedy obviously suggests itself to anyone—there should be a sufficient number of teachers sent to the camps so that reliefs can be supplied as may be required. That would appear to be the remedy for the very real difficulty that may present itself to teachers. They are being supplied with free board and lodging during the time of their residence.

That is the case I want to present to the House and to ask the Minister to explain how soon and by what methods occupation is going to be carried out. A great opportunity is presenting itself to the country in this matter. You have these splendid camps—empty. You have evacuated children scattered about in unsatisfactory conditions in some cases as far as education is concerned—and you have a broken promise. A promise was made that the education of these children should be continued. We know the difficulties, but that promise has been broken. Let us fill the camps and at the same time fulfil the promise that the education of these children should be continued and thus fortify them for the great battle which lies in front of them.