HC Deb 23 May 1916 vol 82 cc1967-8
24. Mr. MORRELL

asked where the seventeen men who were taken last week from the military prison at Harwich to Havre are now placed; whether these men, or any of them, are still refusing military service; and whether one of them, H. F. Brewster, has recently been sentenced to twenty-eight days' field punishment, and for what offence?

Mr. TENNANT

I regret that I am unable, as I have already stated, to give information as to the situation from day to day of individual soldiers, and I am consequently unable to answer the inquiries contained in the question.

Mr. MORRELL

Can the right hon. Gentleman say whether any other men who are resisting orders have been just sent to France since these seventeen?

Mr. TENNANT

I gave the House and my hon. Friend in an answer about three or four days ago the latest information I had from France to the effect that the Non-Combatant Force which had arrived there was doing very well, and there was no trouble with them at all.

Mr. MORRELL

Did not the right hon. Gentleman's answer refer to the Non-Combatant Corps who accepted non-combatant service? My question refers to those men who are still resisting orders on conscientious grounds.

Mr. TENNANT

It was alleged that among them was a body of men who had resisted non-combatant service, that they had been sent to France for that reason, and that that was one of their grievances. I was informed by the Adjutant-General in France that there was no trouble at all.

Mr. E. HARVEY

The trouble alleged is not in regard to the main body of those who had accepted non-combatant service, but a certain number, seventeen, who have refused any form of military service, and who were taken, some of them without uniform, to France?

Mr. SPEAKER

The hon. Member is now making a speech.

23. Mr. ROWNTREE

asked the Under-secretary for War whether men who have been deemed to be enlisted under the Military Service Act, but have consistently protested that they cannot conscientiously undertake military service and have been taken against their will to France, will be subjected to field punishment for continuing their refusal?

Mr. TENNANT

This depends on the nature of the offences they may commit.