HC Deb 10 July 1918 vol 108 cc304-5
74. Sir H. ELVERSTON

asked the Minister of National Service whether he is aware that G. F. Herriman, of Atwood Road, Didsbury, who has had the misfortune to lose a leg and uses crutches, was called up for examination about a year ago and placed in category R R; that he was called up for another examination in the early part of the present year, when attention was called to his infirmity, but, notwithstanding this, he was again called up in the first week of last June; whether all men who have lost a limb are exempt from military service; and whether, seeing that the fact that a man who has lost a leg has been called up three times shows that the Department's system is defective, he will consider the desirability in such cases, with a view of saving trouble and expense, of issuing a cripple's rejection card?

Sir A. GEDDES

I was not aware of the circumstances of the case of G. F. Herriman, to which the hon. Member refers. I am making inquiries, and will communicate with the hon. Member as soon as the result is known. As regards the second part of the question, no man who has lost the whole or part of a limb can be medically passed for the Army. There is, however, a provision enabling such a man to be accepted, at his own request, into the Army to do clerical and other work for which he has been specially trained.

Sir H. ELVERSTON

May I ask the right hon. Gentleman whether he is aware that cripples and people who have been bedridden for years are now being called upon to attend for medical examination, in some cases twenty or thirty miles away from the places where they live, and could he not institute some system to avoid this obvious absurdity?

Sir A. GEDDES

It is quite obvious that a clerk in a recruiting office does not know anything about individuals living twenty or thirty miles away. These people's names are on the National Register, and there is no possible description of their state of health in the register. They are therefore called up in the ordinary course, but there is a full procedure to prevent such things happening as have been suggested.