HC Deb 27 June 1918 vol 107 cc1213-4
101. Colonel ROYDS

asked the Undersecretary of State for War whether instructions have been given to tribunals and directors of National Service not to order or call up for service with the Colours members of the Volunteer Force who have volunteered for service in special service companies, and that the position of these men as regards exemption and right of appeal will not be prejudiced by reason of such special service; and what is the position of a man who has volunteered for special service and has subsequently received a calling-up notice or been refused a further period of exemption by a tribunal?

The MINISTER of NATIONAL SERVICE (Sir Auckland Geddes)

Public announcements have been made to the effect that exempted men, thirty-five years of age or over and in Grade 2, who volunteer for service in special service companies, are not to be prejudiced as regards their tribunal position, and detailed formal instructions are in preparation. There was, however, no intention to exempt from ordinary military service men already liable to be called up before being actually embodied for the Special Volunteer Service. As certain men's offers for special service have now been accepted instructions have been issued that a calling-up notice issued on or after the 25th instant to a man in Grade 2, thirty-five years of age or over, accepted for Special Volunteer Service, is not to be enforced. A man to whom a calling up notice had been issued on or before the 24th instant must respond to that notice, although he may previously have offered himself for Special Volunteer Service.

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