§ MR. KNATCHBULL - HUGESSENasked the Secretary of State for War, with reference to the Queen's Regulations restricting the employment of Soldiers in the Harvest Field, Whether he will be good enough to state what inquiries were made by the General Officer commanding at Dover relative to a complaint made on the subject, on the 17th day of August last, by Mr. Simmons, secretary of the Kent and Sussex Labourers' Union, to whom those inquiries were addressed; and, if he will lay before the House the Answer received to those inquiries?
MR. GATHORNE HARDY,in reply, said, the Queen's Regulations stated that there would be no objection to soldiers being allowed, at the discretion of the general officer in command, to assist in getting in the harvest, when application was made for their assistance, provided that the employment of the population of the district was not thereby interfered with, and that there were no strikes or disputes between the farmers and their Labourers. An application was made in August last for the employment of six soldiers in the neighbourhood of Dover, under the authority of the general officer commanding there. Inquiry was made by the War Office as to whether there was any reason why permission should not be given. The general officer replied that the Labourers were fully employed, and there was no strike or dispute between them and the farmers; and, therefore, he allowed these soldiers to assist in collecting the harvest. The harvest time came on very rapidly, he believed, and but for this assistance many of the farmers would no doubt have suffered. As he had received no reply to the request which he had made to those persons who had complained that they should furnish him with some statement of their grounds of complaint, he did not think it necessary to take any further steps in the matter.