HC Deb 10 May 1916 vol 82 cc656-7
36. Mr. SNOWDEN

asked the Under-Secretary for War if a number of conscientious objectors who have been under detention at Kingston and Hounslow barracks have now been sent to France; if these men have gone willingly; if not, what is going to be done with them in France; and will he give instructions to the military authorities abroad that the provision of the Military Service Act, 1916, which does not allow the infliction of the death penalty on conscientious objectors for refusal to obey military orders shall be strictly observed?

Mr. TENNANT

I think my hon. Friend is mistaken in what he states in the latter part of the question. What the Military Service Act of 1916 provides is, that the death penalty cannot be inflicted in respect of failure to obey an order calling up from the Reserve for permanent service a man deemed to be enlisted under the Act.

Mr. SNOWDEN

That means to say, then, that all the promises made during the passing of the Bill are going to be treated as "scraps of paper" by the War Office?

Mr. TENNANT

No, Sir. I can assure the hon. Gentleman that is not so.

37. Mr. JOWETT

asked the Under-Secretary for War if he will give an undertaking that the sentence of death will not be carried out on soldiers under twenty-one for military offences except when such offences would be punishable by death by a Civil Court of ordinary criminal jurisdiction?

Mr. TENNANT

I cannot give such an undertaking.

38. Mr. JOWETT

asked the Under-Secretary for War if he will give an undertaking to the House of Commons that no soldier who has been previously wounded in the present War will have the death sentence carried out upon him for a military offence other than an offence for which the capital penalty would be inflicted by a Civil Court of criminal jurisdiction?

Mr. TENNANT

I cannot give this undertaking either.