HC Deb 13 July 1917 vol 95 cc2295-6
44. Mr. SWIFT MacNEILL

asked the Prime Minister whether the fact that all persons concerned in the proposed judicial inquiry into the circumstances of the Mesopotamia expedition had ceased to exercise any function in connection with the Government applies to the civilians as well as the military officers whose conduct has been impugned in the Report of the Mesopotamia Commission; if so, whether Lord Hardinge of Penshurst, whose conduct as Governor-General of India has been severely impugned by the Report of the Mesopotamia Commission, continues to exercise the functions in connection with the Government of Permanent Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs; and, if so, will he explain the differentiation in treatment of the in-criminated officers and this incriminated civilian?

Mr. BONAR LAW

I cannot add anything to what my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary said yesterday in this House.

45. Mr. MacNEILL

asked the Prime Minister whether he is aware that Courts of inquiry under the provisions of the Army Act are empowered only to investigate the conduct of persons subject to military law; whether he is aware that the Army (Courts of Inquiry) Act, 1916, while containing provisions to compel persons not subject to military law to attend as witnesses to give evidence and to produce documents before the Court, and providing that when evidence before the Court is likely to affect the character of persons not subject to military law for the inclusion as members of the Courts of one or more persons who are not officers, makes no provision whatever for investing Courts of inquiry under the Army Act with powers to investigate, except incidentally, the conduct of persons not subject to military law; and whether, having regard to the fact that the Army (Courts of Inquiry) Act, 1916, applies only to the investigation of the conduct of persons subject to military law, any, and what, provisions will be made for the investigation of the conduct, as distinct from the character, of persons impugned by the Mesopotamia Report who are not subject to military law?

Mr. BONAR LAW

I cannot add anything to the statement made in the Debate yesterday on this subject.

Mr. MacNEILL

Is not the effect of that answer that the proposal was riddled to atoms?