§ 27. Mr. KINGasked whether Hubert Wild, of Mottram, Manchester, was court martialled at Colchester on the 23rd September and sentenced to six months' detention for refusing, as a conscientious objector, to obey military orders; and whether he has been, or will be, sent to a civil prison in accordance with Army Order 10?
§ Mr. FORSTERThe facts are as stated by the hon. Member. In view of the fact that the Court sentenced Private Wild to detention and not to imprisonment, his appearance before the tribunal was expedited, but he refused to comply with the conditions in regard to undertaking work under the Brace Committee offered to him. Under these circumstances there was no alternative but for him to complete his sentence; and in regard to the hon. Member's question as to whether he will be sent to a civil prison, it has been frequently stated in this House that a sentence of detention cannot be served in a civil prison.
§ 28. Mr. KINGasked the Secretary of State for War whether Private S. Turner, of the 10th Reserve Battalion, 5th London Regiment, stationed at Teignmouth, Devon, a conscientious objector to military service, has been sentenced to a second term of imprisonment for disobeying orders; whether he is aware that Private Turner is now in a detention barracks; and whether he will secure this soldier being sent to a civil prison, in accordance with Army Order 10.
§ Mr. FORSTERIf the soldier is situated as the hon. Member describes he will be committed to a civil prison.
§ 31. Mr. SNOWDENasked the Secretary of State for War if he will make inquiry into the treatment meted out to Harry Brewer, a conscientious objector, attached to 43rd Loyal North Lancashire, C Company, at Aisne Barracks, near Farnborough, who, after being sentenced to fifty-six days' imprisonment by court-martial, instead of being sent to a civil prison was kept at the barracks and brutally treated by non-commissioned officers and compelled to do certain work; and why he was not immediately sent to a civil prison after sentence, and where he is at present?
§ Mr. FORSTERThis case had previously been brought to the notice of the War Office by the hon. Member for Stockport, when inquiries were instituted, and it was ascertained that the man was tried by court-martial on the 10th November, sen-enced to fifty-six days' imprisonment with hard labour, and committed to Wormwood Scrubs on the 13th. I would take the opportunity of informing the hon. Member that the period which elapsed between the date of his conviction and his committal to civil prison was considerably less than that which usually obtains. Inquiry established the fact that he was not brutally treated.
§ 35. Mr. SNOWDENasked the Secretary of State for War if he is aware that Thomas Sidney Overbury, a conscientious objector, was handed over to the military on 2nd October, 1916, court-martialled on 9th October, and sentenced to twenty-eight days' imprisonment, which he served in Wormwood Scrubs; that on the expiration of his sentence on 6th November he was sent to Fulham Military Hospital, and will he say if he is still in that hospital; if he has been on hunger-strike practically the whole time since his arrest; if he has been forcibly fed; and if it is intended to let the man die rather than give him the exemption from military service to which the Central Tribunal has decided he is entitled as a genuine conscientious objector?
§ Mr. FORSTERThis man has been discharged under paragraph 392 XVI., King's Regulations.