§ SIR GEORGE FARDELL (Paddington, S.)To ask the Secretary of State for War if his attention has been called to the case of ex-Lieutenant Arthur Kingston, with eleven years and seven months service, who was ordered to resign his commission without trial although he has 637 repeatedly asked for it; and whether, having regard to the fact that Lieutenant Kingston was commended by the Officer Commanding the Ashanti Field Force in 1900 for very good work in capturing and surprising one of the chief rebel leaders, he can see his way to grant an inquiry or allow that officer to take action at law against his former colonel in order to clear his character and prove that he was the victim of mistaken identity.
(Answered by Mr. Secretary Arnold-Forster.) Lieutenant Kingston, Middlesex Regiment, while attached to the West African Regiment, was reported for intemperate habits by two successive commanding officers of the regiment and by the officer commanding the troops, Sierra Leone, who stated that he did not consider the officer's retention in the service either desirable or likely to be advantageous to the Army. The Commander-in-Chief accordingly ordered him to resign his commission, and this he did without protest. No further official inquiry into this matter can be granted. As regards a civil action, as Mr. Kingston is not subject to military law, no permission from the War Office is necessary.