§ SIR JOHN BENN (Devonport)To ask the Secretary of State for War whether he is aware that, under the King's Regulations, Paragraph 1955, as amended by Army Order 171 of 1907, men living in Devonport, Stonehouse, and Plymouth cannot get a permit to wear plain clothes at all unless they want to leave the district on pass or furlough; and whether, 394 as this limitation is regarded by the lower ranks of the service as a grievance, he will consider extending the order to men of all ranks of very good character, or else allow men with standing passes to wear plain clothes.
(Answered by Mr. Secretary Haldane.) I would refer my hon. friend to the Answer I gave on this subject on the 14th instant to the hon. Member for the Totnes Division, to the effect that the extension of the privilege to wear plain clothes has only recently been made to certain classes of non-commissioned officers. Soldiers of good character are, under existing regulations, permitted at the discretion of their commanding officer to wear plain clothes on pass or furlough beyond the limits of the garrison in which they are quartered. It is not proposed further to extend this privilege.