17. Mr. MacCALLUM SCOTTasked whether Private Harold Spiers, of the 1st Worcestershire Regiment, was tried by court-martial on the 22nd of September, 1911, and sentenced to fourteen days' imprisonment; what was the charge made against him; and what was the defence offered by him?
§ Mr. McKENNAThe sentence was fourteen days' detention. The charge was absence without leave. He pleaded guilty, and it was stated in extenuation by his counsel that, owing to the hardships he had gone through, he did not realise the serious position in which he was placing himself.
Mr. MacCALLUM SCOTTIs it the fact that this man was ordered to serve on duty in suppressing riots in connection with a strike, and that the sight of men being shot down in the roads so unnerved him that he deserted?
§ Mr. McKENNAI cannot answer as to what was in the soldier's mind, but he certainly endured other hardships besides those mentioned.
§ Mr. JOHN WARDAre not all these statements of my hon. Friend the statements of his counsel as justification for his act?
§ Mr. McKENNAThat is a representation by counsel as to what was in the soldier's mind. I can only answer as to the other hardships he has suffered.