§ His Majesty may by Order in Council, signifying that he has made a convention with a foreign country, Allied or otherwise, acting in naval or military cooperation with His Majesty in the present War (in this Act referred to as the contracting country) which imposes a mutual liability to military service on British subjects in that country and on subjects of that country in the United Kingdom, direct that this Act shall have effect with respect to the contracting country and the subjects of that country, provided that no British subject in the contracting country shall be brought, under the operation of such a convention without being allowed the option of offering to return to this country; and on any such Order in Council being made, this Act shall have effect accordingly, but no such Order in Council shall be made until such convention has lain upon the Table of the House of Commons for thirty days.
§ Amendment made: Leave out the words "provided that no British subject in the contracting country shall be brought under the operation of such a convention without being allowed the option of offering to return to this country."
§ The UNDER-SECRETARY Of STATE for WAR (Mr. Macpherson)I beg to move to leave out the words "but no such Order in Council shall be made until such Convention has lain upon the Table of the House of Commons for thirty days," and insert instead thereof the words,
Provided that—
- (a) no such Order in Council shall be made unless the Convention secures to His Majesty's Ambassador or other public Minister in the contracting country power to grant to British subjects in that country exemption from military service, and such Ambassador or Minister shall grant such exemption in any case where a British subject proves that he is not
2130 domiciled in the contracting country, and that before proceeding to the contracting country he was ordinarily resident in some part of His Majesty's, Dominions other than Great Britain; - (b) no such Order in Council shall be made unless the Convention contains provisions to the effect that British subjects in the contracting country and subjects of the contracting country in the United Kingdom shall, before becoming liable to military service, have an opportunity, if they make an application for the purpose, of returning to the United Kingdom or the contracting country, as the case may be;
- (c) an Order in Council shall not be made until the expiration of thirty days from the date when the Convention has been laid before Parliament."
Mr. E. HARVEYwith regard to paragraph (a) is there any danger that the wording will be understood to imply that the Ambassador has only power to grant exemption in the case of people not regularly domiciled in the allied country, and if he is satisfied is he not to have power to grant exemption in certain other cases? I hope it will be made quite clear that the Ambassador may grant exemption in every case in which he thinks a person is entitled to it.
§ Mr. MACPHERSONYes; I think so. Amendment agreed to.