§ 62. Mr. WATTasked the Under-Secretary of State for War whether he has yet received any reply from India from the Commander-in-Chief there to the letter written by him dealing with the petition of a soldier and referred to in his answer in this House on 18th December last; and, if so, what is the purport of the reply?
§ Mr. MACPHERSONA reply has just been received from the Commander-in- Chief in India. A petition from Gunner Aitchison was received in June last, but there was necessarily some little delay 1292 in dealing with it, owing to the fact that the court-martial proceedings had to be obtained from this country. On receipt of these the man's sentence was suspended and orders given for his return to the firing-line on the 5th October last, and I presume he has been given every opportunity to earn a remission of his sentence under the Suspension of Sentences Acts. As regards the various points raised by my hon. Friend in his question on the 18th December last, evidence was forthcoming at the trial that Aitchison had only been excused night duty by the medical officer. He refused to obey orders when his battery was under fire and at a, time when the services of every available man were urgently needed for the provision of cover. No information is available as to Gunner Aitchison having been in action five times between the date of the offence and the date of sentence.