§ 57. Mr. NEVILLEasked the Prime Minister whether he can assure the House and the country that there are now no unmarried men of military age and fitness in any of the Government offices whose places can be taken by men over military age or by women; and, if there are, whether he will give orders to have the stars removed forthwith from their names in the National Register?
§ The PRIME MINISTERAs I informed the hon. Member for Brentford on the 23rd February, instructions have been issued to Government Departments to dispense with the services of as many of their employés of military age as possible. A large number of men have accordingly been released. The remainder are for the most part attested under the Derby scheme, and 1343 each case is carefully reconsidered as the groups are called up. Clerks in Government offices are not starred.
§ 60. Mr. BARNESasked the Financial Secretary to the War Office if he can give the number of officers of the Civil Service on full or part pay who are doing duty as guards or other subordinate positions in the Territorial Forces for Home Defence; and if he can relieve these men for their ordinary duties so as in turn to relieve young men of military age who are now doing their Civil Service duties, and so add to the strength of the Army in the field and save the money of the taxpayer?
§ The FINANCIAL SECRETARY to the WAR OFFICE (Mr. Forster)I cannot give the numbers asked for without elaborate inquiries, which I cannot impose upon Departments already overstrained. But, as bearing on the numbers, I may say that the Civil Service Commission, in taking on substitutes for the men who went to the Army, refused from the beginning of the War all men of military age and fitness unless they were married men with families, and, from April, 1915, refused all men fit for military service without exception.