§ 29 Colonel PENRY WILLIAMSasked the Secretary of State for War (1) whether Sapper R. N. Crozier, aged twenty-seven, enlisted September, 1914, and attached to the L Signal Bat- 194 talion, is ineligible for demobilisation under Army Order of the 29th January, 1.919, paragraph 7 of the Schedule; if so, how long will this man be retained; whether every effort will be made to find a substitute at the earliest possible moment; (2) whether Private J. Bowe, 23rd Ordnance Depot, Army Ordnance Corps, British Expeditionary Force, France, aged forty-two, enlisted September, 1914, is ineligible for demobilisation under Army Order of 29th January, 1919, paragraph 12 of the Schedule; if so, how long will this man be retained; and whether every effort will be made to fine a substitute at the earliest possible moment; (3) whether Private W. T. Townsend, No. 132406, Royal Army Medical Corps, staff, No. 10, General Hospital, Rouen, France, who enlisted in 1914, is ineligible for demobilisation under the Army Order of 29th January, 1919, paragraph 11 of the Schedule; if so, how long will this man be retained; and whether every effort will be made to find a substitute at the earliest possible moment?
§ Mr. CHURCHILLExcept for the possibility that the soldiers mentioned by my hon. and gallant Friend may be temporarily required for the military machinery of demobilisation, they would appear to be otherwise eligible for release. If they are so temporarily required, they are liable to retention until they can be substituted or their services dispensed with, but every effort is being made to replace men who are so retained as early as possible.