§ 7. Mr. KINGasked the Under-Secretary of State for War whether the Army Council will issue an order to all commanding officers at home requiring them to allow leave to men who have gardens and allotments at home so that they may return to cultivate and plant such grounds, imposing such conditions as will admit only of leave for bonâ fide work of food production?
§ Mr. MACPHERSONArrangements have been in force for some time whereby ordinary leave and agricultural furlough can be granted under certain conditions, provided men can be spared from their military duties and are not under training 1103 for service abroad. As men on leave are not under military supervision, I am afraid that the suggestion in the last part of the question is hardly practicable.
§ 16. Mr. KINGWould it not be possible to get the guarantee, say, of the clergyman of the parish, or of some well-known local authority, that the men were actually employed on such service, and could not a great deal of such work be done by men of the Army?
Mr. CHANCELLORIs the hon. Gentleman aware that some of the men are now being sent out to the Front without having their usual leave? May I respectively ask the hon. Gentleman to keep that in view?