§ 93. Mr. HAY MORGANasked the Secretary of State for War whether his attention has been called to the case of Mr. Bernard Paterson Short, of Reading, who offered himself for the Army in November, 1915, and was rejected as medically unfit, and who nevertheless has been called up for immediate military service without further medical examination in violation of the provisions of the Military Service Act, 1916; and, if so, whether he will say what steps he proposes to take in the matter?
§ 98. Mr. SNOWDENasked if he will order the recruiting officer at Blackburn to stop the persecution of H. Hodgson, of Rishton, who was discharged from the Army on 12th August, 1909, as physically unfit, but was arrested on 18th June as an absentee, was kept in the cells all night, was three times brought before the magistrates, and finally discharged as an exception from the Act, under paragraph 5, Schedule I., but has since been summoned to come forward for medical reexamination aad threatened with rearrest if he does not comply?
§ 100. Mr. SNOWDENasked if he is aware that Major Lucas, the recruiting officer at Cardiff, wrote to Evelyn C. Collins, of Gileston, Glamorgan, the wife of Thomas Collins, 720 Company, Mechanical Transport, Army Service Corps, telling her that if she did not quit a cottage, the property of T. W. Lewis, stipendiary magistrate of Cardiff, she could get no assistance from the military; whether the woman, her two children, and furniture were placed by the police in the road under an ejectment order made by the Cow-bridge magistrates; if so, will he say under what powers Major Lucas acted; and what action is proposed to be taken in the matter?
119. Mr. EDMUND HARVEYasked whether he will inquire into the case of Private R. Hammond, No. 31619, 3rd Company, 5th Battalion, King's Royal Rifles, who, after being rejected on medical grounds for the Dispatch Corps, tried to enlist in the Cavalry and was again rejected on medical grounds, the doctor stating that his heart was in a serious condition, and subsequently was passed at Whitehall for the King's Royal Rifles; whether he has already had a serious breakdown in consequence; and whether any action will be taken to prevent more serious results?
§ The FINANCIAL SECRETARY to the WAR OFFICE (Mr. Forster)I am having inquiries made in all these cases, and will communicate the results to my hon. Friends in due course.