HC Deb 26 June 1917 vol 95 cc176-8
59. Mr. SNOWDEN

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department if a conscientious objector, named George Pickles, stationed at Dartmoor, recently sent a telegram, on the instruction of the agents, to the Home Office Committee asking for permission to attend his brother's funeral and offering to pay his own expenses; whether, in spite of the fact that four days' leave were due to him, his request was refused; and will he say for what reason the Home Office refused this request?

The SECRETARY of STATE for the HOME DEPARTMENT (Sir G. Cave)

Pickles telegraphed applying for leave for the purpose stated, and asked for a free pass to Leeds No leave was due to him, as all leave is now suspended, and the Committee decided that they could not make an exception in his case. He had recently had a week's special leave on account of his mother's illness.

60. Mr. SNOWDEN

asked why no reply has been sent to Mrs. Little, 2, Beacons-field Terrace, Westoe, South Shields, who, on the 3rd June, wrote to the Home Office Committee on Conscientious Objectors conveying to them her husband's request, who is now in Durham Prison, to be allowed to accept the Home Office scheme which he had previously refused; and if steps will be taken at once to put this man under the scheme?

Sir G. CAVE

The Committee has no power to send this man out to work, as he declined to have his case considered by the Central Tribunal with a view to his release under the Home Office scheme. The reply to his wife's letter was delayed owing to extreme pressure of work.

62. Mr. SNOWDEN

asked what action has been taken or is intended to be taken as a result of the decision of the Merthyr Tydvil stipendiary magistrate, delivered on the 19th June, in the case of Henry Thomas, who was dismissed from the Home Office settlement at Dartmoor and handed over to the military for return to the Army; and, in view of the decision of the stipendiary that, since the Central Tribunal had judged Thomas to be a genuine conscientious objector, be could not be a military absentee and was therefore discharged, will the Home Office immediately demand from the Army the recall of all men who have been returned to the Army under conditions identical with the case of Thomas; and will a stop be made by the Home Office Committee to any further illegal practices of this character?

Sir G. CAVE

In this case the magistrate appears to have been erroneously informed that the man had been exempted from military service by the Central Tribunal, and to have dealt with the case on that assumption. A decision based on this assumption does not affect the action of the Committee, which deals only with men who have not been exempted. No further action appears to be necessary in this case, so far as the Home Office is concerned.

Mr. SNOWDEN

With regard to the latter part of the answer, does it mean that the Home Office are not going to interfere with this young fellow who has been discharged by the stipendiary?

Sir G. CAVE

I do not think there is any question as to the decision of the magistrate.