§ 88. Mr. KINGasked the Under-Secretary for War whether he is aware that the 30th Battalion, Middlesex Regiment, is made up of sons of Germans and Austrian parents, naturalised and unnaturalised, to whom the assurances were given that this battalion should be retained for Home defence, and that these men would not be brought into the field abroad where they would have to fight their own kith and kin; and whether he can assure the House that men of this battalion have not been, and will not be, sent abroad?
§ Mr. MACPHERSONI would refer the hon. Member to the reply given to the hon. Member for Blackburn on the 5th instant. This unit is not a combatant unit. I know of no promise that it should not be employed for labour in France.
§ Mr. SNOWDENIs it a fact that it is under orders to go to the front?
§ Mr. MACPHERSONI believe it is not under orders as a battalion.
§ Mr. KINGWill the hon. Gentleman inquire whether the men of the regiment were under the strong impression that they would not go to France, and whether they are under a correspondingly strong sense of injustice that they are being sent to France?