§ 59. Mr. THOMASasked the Under-Secretary of State for War whether he is aware that soldiers continually being discharged are kept waiting for periods varying from one to four weeks before being permitted to resume their former employment on the railways; and, having regard to the fact that during this period these men receive neither allowances from the Army nor wages from the railway companies, whether he is prepared to make arrangements whereby their Army pay will be continued until such time as they are able to resume civil employment, and so avoid the hardships at present experienced by men who have served their country on the battlefield?
§ Mr. FORSTERPerhaps my hon. Friend would explain to me more fully the difficulty which he has in mind. The normal rule is that a soldier awaiting his discharge continues to receive Army pay and allowances until the actual date on which he is discharged, and it would be for him to arrange with his civil employers the date on which he takes up civil employment.
§ Mr. THOMASIs not the hon. Gentleman aware that men have been kept waiting a fortnight or three weeks to go into civil employment, and that in the interval they are getting nothing; and in some cases their families are suffering?
§ Mr. FORSTERI am not aware of that. I do not quite understand the position. These men, I gather, have been discharged from the Army, and a period of two or three weeks elapses before they take up civil employment.
§ Mr. THOMASThese men are discharged from the Army, and before their employers who had guaranteed them their jobs will re-employ them they are waiting another medical examination, which occupies two or three weeks. In the interval they are getting neither pension nor anything from the employers.
§ Mr. FORSTERIf the hon. Member will give me particulars of a case I think it will enable me to deal with the matter better.
§ Mr. THOMASI will do that.