§ MR. WEIRTo ask the Secretary of State for War, having regard to the fact that under Rule 1822 of the King's Regulations helpless discharged soldiers, when sent to their homes, should be accompanied by an unarmed conducting party, transmitting at the same time a medical certificate stating the necessity for its employment, will he state why the non-commissioned officer who in October, 1903, escorted to his home in the Island of Lewis a private soldier in the Scots Guards, certificate of discharge No. 4731, was not in possession of the usual medical certificate.
226 (Answered by Mr. Secretary Arnold-Forster.) The hon. Member has evidently misread paragraph 1822, King's Regulations, which provides that a medical certificate shall be forwarded to the general officer who authorises the despatch of the escorting party; but it is not usual or necessary that the party shall be furnished with a medical certificate.