§ 7. Mr. BUTCHERasked the Under-Secretary of State for War whether the provisions of the Military Service (Review of Exceptions) Act, 1917, exempting from notice and examination under that Act men who have been discharged from the naval or military services of the Crown in consequence of disablement caused by wounds (including injury from poisonous gases) received in battle or in any engagement with the enemy or other wise from the enemy, apply to men who have been discharged from such service in consequence of disablement caused by wounds received in former wars; and whether his recent announcement extending such exemption to men who have been discharged from such service in consequence of disablement, however caused, in the course of their naval or military service, applies to men who have been so discharged in former wars?
§ The UNDER-SECRETARY of STATE for WAR (Mr. Macpherson)Recruiting officers have been instructed that the exception from this Act of men discharged in consequence of disablement resulting from wounds, etc., is to be taken as applying to discharges on these grounds in any war. The recent instructions which 1712 in effect extend the exception from this Act to all men discharged from the Armed Forces of the Crown in consequence of disablement after service overseas also extend to service overseas irrespective of service in the present or in former wars.
§ Mr. BUTCHERDoes the reply cover all the cases of men who have been discharged in this or former wars by reason of disablement, whether due to the specific causes mentioned in the Act of 1917 or to any other cause?
§ Mr. MACPHERSONYes.