§ 9. Sir STEPHEN COLLINSasked the Under-Secretary of State for War whether E. A. Prevost, a conscientious objector, was arrested on the 14th October last, court-martialled on the 25th October, sent to Wormwood Scrubs Prison, trans ferred to Wandsworth, and while there brought before the Central Tribunal; that in response to the question whether he was willing to undertake work of national importance he replied in the affirmative, but has not yet been given work of national importance; on what grounds this has not been granted, or whether the man has been deemed not genuine; and, it so, for what reason?
§ The PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY to the LOCAL GOVERNMENT BOARD (Mr. Hayes Fisher)My hon. Friend has asked me to answer this question. The case of Mr. Prevost, who is aged twenty-five, has been fully considered, and, in view of the report made upon it by the Central Tribunal, the man was not offered work under the Home Office Committee. The Central Tribunal are not asked to state their reasons in these cases, but I learn that the answers given by the man were unsatisfactory. He had not availed himself of the right of applying to a local tribunal.
§ 10. Mr. KINGasked the Under-Secretary of State for War whether he is aware of the case of Joseph MacQuaid, of Barvernachon, Whaup Hill, Wigtownshire, arrested as a conscientious objector on the 24th August, 1916, court-martialled, imprisoned in Carlton Gaol, and now working on the road at Ballachulish; whether Joseph MacQuaid previously worked on his father's dairy farm, where fifty Ayrshire milch cows were kept, but that on this farm of 304 acres the milk production had been abandoned as a result of the son's imprisonment; that Joseph MacQuaid is of excellent character, and that the agent at Ballachulish is ready to recommend him; and whether he will arrange for this man being returned to work which will increase the food production in Scotland?
§ The UNDER-SECRETARY of STATE for the HOME DEPARTMENT (Mr. Brace)My hon. Friend has asked me to answer this question. I am aware of the facts of MacQuaid's case. The agent at the Road Board Camp at Ballachulisn, where he is working, reports that his conduct is exemplary. He and his brother are joint tenants of a farm, but the Committee on the Employment of Conscientious Objectors are precluded from sending him home to work on it.
§ Mr. PRINGLEIs this an example of scientific organisation; that a Committee should be prevented from using a man in the best possible way in the interests of the country?
§ Mr. EUGENE WASONMay I ask the hon. Member for North Somerset what connection he has with Scotland or Wigtownshire?
§ Mr. KINGIs it in order for the right hon. Gentleman to ask questions of me? If so, may I inform him that I have taken very good care to establish the facts, and they have all been admitted from the Front Bench?
§ 12. Mr. KINGasked the Under-Secretary of State for War whether Cameron, Ferguson, and Robert Ramsay were engaged on a farm of 260 acres at High Drummore, Wigtownshire, where they had about 140 pigs and eighty cows; that these men are conscientious objectors against military service and have been since April, 1916, in barracks doing nothing, in prison doing their time, or under the Home Office scheme doing work for which they are unsuited; whether Cameron and Ferguson Ramsay are now at Burwarton, Salop, and that Robert Ramsay was recently at the Wakefield Work Centre; whether he can state the cost to the taxpayers of these three men since April, 1916; and whether, in view of the reduced food production on their farm due to their enforced absence, he will now save further public expense by returning these men to civil life?
§ Mr. BRACEMy hon. Friend has asked me to reply to this question. Wilson Ramsay, Ferguson Ramsay, and Robert Ramsay, sons of a farmer of High Drummore, are conscientious objectors employed under the Home Office scheme. No papers can be traced concerning Cameron Ramsay, and I presume that Wilson Ramsay is the man to whom it is intended to refer. He and his brother 187 Ferguson have been employed at the Road Board Camp at Dyce at Warwick Work Centre, and at the Home-Grown Timber Committee's Camp near Newport, Salop. Robert has been employed at Wakefield Work Centre, and also at the Home-grown Timber Committee's Camp at Wigtown, where his conduct did not give satisfaction. I cannot say what these three men have cost the taxpayers since April, 1916. All three have been sentenced by courts-martial for military offences, and the Committee on the Employment of Conscientious Objectors are precluded from returning them to their homes.