§ 12. Mr. GILBERTasked the Minister of National Service whether he can state that in the exemption lists which he has al ready published of men under the new Military Service Act Post Office employès will include temporary men who have been engaged during the War on Post Office work?
§ Mr. BECKI assume that the list to which my hon. Friend refers is that which appeared in the Press some time since, based upon a Departmental Instruction issued on the 4th May. That Instruction did not relate to exemption, but only provided that in the calling up for medical examination of men born in the years 1874 and 1875 certain classes of men should be excluded for the time being. The Instruction did not draw any distinction between permanent and temporary Post Office employès. Since some misapprehension appears to have been caused by the accounts of it which were given in a number of newspapers, I am glad to take this 795 opportunity of pointing out that the Instruction was of a purely provisional nature, and is already in course of revision. The Instruction was issued solely as a guide to the officials of the Ministry of National Service, in order to help them in starting their work in connection with the recruiting of the older men who were made liable by the Military Service Act (No. 2), 1918.