HC Deb 07 August 1918 vol 109 c1340
32. Mr. HARRIS

asked the Under-Secretary of State for War if he will state the amount of training required from youths of eighteen before they are liable to be sent overseas?

Mr. MACPHERSON

I would refer my hon. Friend to the reply which I gave on the 20th June last to my hon. Friend the Member for Tottenham.

Colonel ASHLEY

Are we in the same position now as we were on the 20th of June?

Mr. MACPHERSON

I think not.

Mr. ROCH

Has the right hon. Gentleman seen the Report of the medical officer in regard to these boys?

Mr. MACPHERSON

Yes.

Mr. HOGGE

Are boys of that age likely to be restored to the position in which they were before the crisis which necessitated their being sent away?

Mr. MACPHERSON

I would remind the House that it was with very great regret that the War Cabinet decided that those boys, not of eighteen but of eighteen and a half, should be sent abroad. As I stated in answer to a supplementary question the other day, the Army Council and the War Cabinet would be glad to consider the possibility of coming back to the old arrangement.