§ 31. Mr. IRVINGasked the Secretary of State for War whether there are forty-five men between the ages of forty-one and forty-six years in the S Corps, Signal Company, British Expeditionary Force, who are not being demobilised; whether Form Z32, issued before 1st February, is being ignored; whether an Army Council appeal was recently read to these men asking them to agree to the deferment of demobilisation, and promising volunteers the bounty of 10s. 6d. per week from 1st February, and that the men were told that if they failed to volunteer a number would be compulsorily retained, and that in that event only half the bonus would be paid, and that only from 1st May; whether the men were informed that men who failed to volunteer and were subsequently found to be in excess of requirements would receive neither leave nor bonus; and whether, seeing that men of twenty-one years are being demobilised from this company, he will cause a strict inquiry to be made?
Captain GUESTInquiries will be made, and my hon. Friend will be informed of the result as soon as possible.