HC Deb 14 March 1917 vol 91 c1084
50. Colonel GREENE

asked the Prime Minister whether his attention has been called to the fact: that men are being deterred from volunteering for National Service by the knowledge that should they do so they will be supplanted in their present businesses and occupations by uninterned enemy aliens residing in the same district; and whether he will take some action with a view to remedying this state of affairs, which is prejudicing the success of the National Service movement?

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

My right hon. Friend has asked me to reply to this question. No representations to this effect have reached me, and it is not the case that persons who volunteer for National Service will run the risk of being supplanted by interned enemy aliens, but I would refer to the statement which I made on the 14th February, when I explained that every case of an alien-enemy exempted from internment was to be reviewed with the object of securing that if not interned or repatriated the man should be employed in some work which was useful and necessary to the country during the war.