§ 36. Mr. RICHARD LAMBERTasked the Home Secretary if he can give precise information as to the future use of Dartmoor Prison; and whether it is intended that conscientious objectors now in the work centre will be transferred to Dartmoor, or whether the men known as absolutists now in His Majesty's prisons are to be transferred?
§ Mr. BRACEThe arrangement applies only to men who have been offered work under civilian control in lieu of military service, and have accepted it. Men who have refused the offer do not come within the scheme.
§ Mr. LAMBERTWhat is proposed to be done with the men who refuse to offer?
§ Mr. KINGAre further alterations and requirements necessary before those proposals are put into operation?
§ 37. Mr. THOMAS RICHARDSONasked the Home Secretary if he will state the regulations respecting letters to prisoners undergoing sentence of imprisonment in. His Majesty's gaols; whether there is any difference with regard to long-sentence men as compared with those serving shorter sentences; whether, in cases where friends are unable to visit prisoners, there is any latitude with regard to correspondence; and are the same rules applicable in these respects to conscientious objecttors as applied to other prisoners?
§ Mr. BRACESubject to industry and good conduct in prison, prisoners serving ordinary sentences of imprisonment, with or without hard labour, are allowed a letter and a visit at the end of two months from conviction, and monthly thereafter. When a visit cannot take place, an additional letter is allowed instead. The same 535 rules apply to those prisoners who claim to be conscientious objectors as apply to other convicted prisoners.
§ 40. Sir JOHN SPEARasked the Home Secretary what is the scale of rations to be supplied to the conscientious objectors at Princetown, Devon?
§ Mr. BRACEThe Home Office Committee is in communication with the Food Controller in this matter, but the scale is not yet finally settled.
§ Sir J. SPEARIs the hon. Gentleman aware that the scale which has been foreshadowed is above that which the general public are expected to use, and while there is no desire to penalise these men, we object to them being treated differently from the general public?
§ Mr. BRACEThey will not have any treatment better than the general public, my hon. Friend may rest assured of that.
§ 76. Mr. SNOWDENasked the President of the Board of Education if, in view of the situation caused by the shortage of teachers, he will endeavour to secure the return to their profession of fully qualified teachers, many of them university men, who have been declared by the central tribunal to be genuine conscientious objectors, who are now uselessly employed under the Home Office scheme or kept in prison?
§ The VICE-CHAMBERLAIN of the HOUSEHOLD (Mr. Beck)I do not think it would be in the interests of education that I should act on the hon. Member's suggestion.
§ 77. Mr. SNOWDENasked the President of the Board of Education if, in view of the fact that teachers in the Army classified in categories below B 1 are to be returned to their professional work, he will stop the calling into the Army of D. F. Griffiths, of Llanelly, who is classed C 3, and whose services the education committee are willing to retain?
§ Mr. BECKI have no power to prevent the calling up of this man, and in view of the decision of the Central Tribunal in the case, it would not be proper for me to intervene.
90 and 91.asked the Under-Secretary for War (1) whether he is aware that Alfred Major, a conscientious objector to military service, was arrested on 26th August, 1916, taken to Cardiff, 536 from thence to Kinmel Park and sentenced to two years' hard labour, sent to Wormwood Scrubbs on the 4th December, again returned to Kinmel Park, court-martialled for again refusing to obey a military order, and sent to Carnarvon Gaol on 23rd December; whether he is aware that Major suffers from a diseased heart and was pronounced by the Army doctor as being totally unfit for the Army and unfit for prison; and why a man suffering from such physical disability is being kept either in prison or in the Army; and (2) whether he is aware that Mr. Charles W. Curtiss, a conscientious objector to military service, who was arrested on 12th September, 1916, taken to Hounslow, from there to the Royal Herbert Hospital, Woolwich, and that a question was raised in this House with respect to the man being placed in a venereal-disease-infected hut, for which regret was expressed; whether he is aware that this man suffers from organic disease of the heart, lungs, and kidneys, as well as from double hernia; and whether he will say what purpose is served by keeping a man in this condition either in prison or in the hands of the military?
§ The UNDER-SECRETARY of STATE for WAR (Mr. Macpherson)If the hon. Member will give me the numbers and the regiments of Major and Curtiss, and, if possible, their present whereabouts, I will have inquiries made, and inform him of the result.
§ 94. Mr. T. RICHARDSONasked the Under-Secretary for War whether he will consider the advisability of advising the Central Tribunal to consider as an alternative to prison for conscientious objectors deemed to be genuine those who express willingness to serve with the Friends' ambulance unit, and who are acceptable to that organisation; and whether he will take steps to make use of the willing services of these men rather than send them to prison when not prepared to undertake work under the Home Office scheme?
§ Mr. MACPHERSONI should be glad if my hon. Friend would postpone this question until next week, as there are other Departments concerned in the matter.