§ 127. Sir P. MAGNUSasked the Financial Secretary to the War Office whether it was with his sanction that a former political agent with no agricultural knowledge has been appointed assistant substitution officer in the York district after acting as military representative before the tribunals in that area; whether he is aware that this gentleman openly states that whenever a substitute for a farm worker is refused, however unsuitable he may be, he will ask the tribunal to cancel the certificate of exemption held by such farm worker, irrespective of the scale of labour agreed upon between the War Office and the Board of Agriculture; and whether, in order to prevent the further reduction of the output of home-grown food, he will see that all substitution officers have practical agricultural experience, and that all committees for examining labour census forms contain at least one practical farmer?
§ Mr. FORSTERI think the hon. Member is under some misapprehension. The substitution officer does the office work in connection with substitution, and it is not claimed that he has agricultural knowledge. He was not a military representative. The suggestion in the second part of the question is, I am informed, not accurate. Whenever an employer refuses a suitable substitute the farm worker's certificate will be reviewed, in consultation with the agricultural representative. Every employer has a trial of a substitute, and wages, etc., are fixed before the engagement is completed. The committees, which are appointed locally, contain, as far as is known, at least one practical farmer, and in some cases more than one.