§ 86. Mr. THOMASasked the Under-Secretary for War whether he is aware that a recruiting officer at Hove informed a boy on the 18th May, when reporting himself for service, that youths of eighteen years of age all over the country are to be compelled to sign on for not less than seven years; will he say whether this is compulsory and whether any official countenance is given to pressure being applied to boys in order to induce them to enlist for long 2283 service; and whether their parents are consulted in the matter in cases where the engagement extends beyond the period contemplated under the Derby recruiting scheme or the Military Service Act, 1916?
§ Mr. TENNANTEnlistment under the Military Service Act, 1916, is for the period of the War. If any such statement as is reproduced in the first part of my hon. Friend's question was made, it was manifestly incorrect, and no recruiting officer had any right to make it.