§ 19. Mr. HOGGEasked the Under-Secretary of State for War whether he is aware that Mr. Aubrey Ross, of 12, Bridge Street, Leominster, attended on 10th December, 1915, at the drill hall there and declared his conscientious objection against combatant service; that he is a member of a sect known as the Brethren; that he expressed a wish to join a branch of the Royal Army Medical Corps, and that he was told that if he would not accept the oath for general service his papers would be torn up; and whether he intends to take any action which will admit of a Derby recruit who attested to assist in preserving a voluntary Army being used in a branch of the Ser vice in consonance with his religious conviction?
§ Mr. TENNANTI am not aware of the circumstances stated by my hon. Friend. A man who becomes voluntarily attested under the group system was and is entitled to express a preference for any particular branch of the Service. A note of his wishes is to be entered in the Army Register against his name, and as far as possible his preference is respected. It is not, of course, always possible to draft a man to the particular branch of the Service selected by him if, when he is called up, there are no vacancies in that branch. But, as far as possible, the religious convictions of any man who has voluntarily attested are respected in selecting the arm of the Service in which he is to serve. I would point out that a soldier joining the Royal Army Medical Corps would have to accept general service. Assuming the facts to be as stated, it seems to me to be a case where the man should be transferred to a non-combatant branch of the Service.