§ 36. Mr. ANDERSONasked the Minister of Munitions whether Harry Crichton Glass, one of the trade union workmen deported from Glasgow to Aberdeen, was permitted, subject to certain conditions, to proceed to Cardiff for the purpose of finding employment; whether he will make public what these conditions were; whether the workman was pledged to report himself immediately on arrival to the chief constable at Cardiff and to proceed without loss of time on board the steamship "Erininer"; whether the workman was further pledged not to acquaint any representative of any labour party of his arrival and not to address any trade union or other labour meeting; and whether he will state who was responsible for the enforcement of this undertaking?
§ The PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY to the MUNITIONS DEPARTMENT (Dr. Addison)I have now made inquiries of the competent military authorities on this matter, and am informed that the workman in question applied on the 20th April for permission to leave Aberdeen in order to join a ship at Cardiff. This permission was immediately accorded by the military authorities, subject to the signature by the workman of an undertaking substantially in the form indicated in the question.
§ 37. Mr. ANDERSONasked the Minister of Munitions whether the future movements of certain trade unionists deported from the Clyde district, as well as the area inside which they will be allowed to work and the conditions under which they will be allowed to work have been placed in the hands of Lieutenant-Colonel Levita, of the Scottish Command; whether Lieutenant-Colonel Levita has informed these men that even if they secure work away from the West of Scotland munitions area they must report their new place of residence to the headquarters, Scottish Command, Edinburgh, through the local chief constable, and that, before making arrangements, they must communicate with Mr. Macassey, the chairman of His Majesty's Government Commission to secure dilution of labour, with a view to discovering whether their proposed place of residence would be approved by the 2568 Ministry of Munitions; and by whose authority such conditions are imposed on men who are neither aliens nor criminals and against whom no charge of any sort has been established?
§ Dr. ADDISONThe administration of Regulation 14, of the Defence of the Realm Regulations, under which the men referred to were removed from the Glasgow area, rests with the competent military authorities, and therefore no change has been made in this respect. The military authorities have made such arrangements with regard to these men as seemed proper to them, having regard to the fact that they had been removed under the Regulation. As I stated, in reply to a previous question, some of the men have expressed a desire to obtain work at places other than those at which they are now residing, and endeavours are being made to complete the necessary arrangements.
§ Mr. ANDERSONAm I to understand that the future movements of these men are in the hands of the military authorities, and are not in the hands of the Ministry of Munitions?
§ Dr. ADDISONThat is so.