£278,000 FOR BOG

Evening Star, Issue 23717, 26 October 1940, Page 12

£278,000 FOR BOG

BUILDING PLAN ABANDONED How £250,000 was wasted on a* sit* for au Air Ministry building in Scotland is described in tbe fifth report from the Committee on National Expenditure issued recently (says the London ‘Daily Telegraph’). It is stated that early in 1930, the Air Ministry acquired 160 acres of land adjoining an aerodrome for' £26,637. “ The land so acquired,” says tha report, “ was an undrained bog with a covering of peat up to a depth of 7ft lying upon a bed of clay. “ Though, with modern engineering knowledge and appliances, it would ba wrong to say that any site is impossible for the erection of a building, i* would be difficult, throughout the length and breadth of this country, to find any site which was likely to prove more difficult and expensive than the aifa Work began in March, 1939. and in October was abandoned after a sura estimated at £278,000 had been spent. Regarding the purchase of a site for an aerodrome in Kent, the report say* it brought to light a careless and haphazard system. The site included 33 acres of fruit trees, under-planted with turnips. For the loss of the turnips the Ministry paid £1,500. By the tima this settlement was concluded, says tha report, the entire crap of turnips had been pilfered. “ It seems a gross casa of failure to see that the Air Ministry got any value for the £1,500 which they w r ere called upon to pay.”