§ DR. COOPER (Southwark, Bermondsey)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for War whether his attention has been directed to the reply given by General Sir T. Kelly - Kenny to Dr. Maurice Ernst, the London correspondent of the Neues Wiener Tagblatt for publication in that paper, on England and the disarmament question, and the answers of Generals Sir Ian Hamilton and Sir Alfred Turner to the Allegemeine Zeitung of Munich on the same question; whether either of these generals are on the active list of the Army or Reserve of Officers; if so, whether any permission has been given to these officers to express their opinion in the newspapers on the action of the Government; and, if not, what does he intend to do in the matter.
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR WAR (Mr. HALDANE, Haddington)Of the generals referred to, only one—Sir Ian Hamilton—is on the active list and thus subject to military law. On General Hamilton being approached by a representative of a Bavarian newspaper, with a view to expressing his opinion on disarmament, Sir Ian replied that the military regulations forbade his writing to the Press on military matters. The expression of opinion in the Bavarian newspaper ascribed to General Hamilton is a translation of a passage of a speech delivered by him at Petersham on the 27th April last. I may add that the opinions of the retired officers alluded to in the Question are not such as to call for any action on my part.