§ 30. Lieutenant-Colonel Lord HENRY CAVENDISH - BENTINCKasked the Secretary of State for War whether, in view of the hardship suffered by being retained in the Army by one-man business men who are in many instances qualified for demobilisation, he will immediately release all such men. whether qualified or not, who can prove that their businesses are suffering by their absence with the forces?
§ Mr. CHURCHILLSuch men as are eligible for demobilisation are being demobilised as rapidly as the exigencies of the Service permit. I regret my Noble and gallant Friend's proposal to release men who are not eligible cannot be entertained.
§ Lord H. CAVENDISH-BENTINCKCannot my right hon. Friend feel any compassion for men whose business has been ruined and whose prospects in life have been damaged?
§ Mr. CHURCHILLYes, Sir; there is machinery for dealing with compassionate cases, and the construction put upon compassionate cases may be made more liberal as time advances. As I have frequently explained, we have had to make a rule and to stick to it.
§ Sir J. BUTCHERWould the right hon. Gentleman reconsider the ground of compassionate release so as to bring in many of these undoubtedly hard cases of one-man businesses?
§ Mr. CHURCHILLI have several times said to the House that the Army was greatly unsettled by the policy of picking and choosing, and it has been greatly steadied by the introduction of rules which, though they seem very hard in individual cases, commend themselves to the sense of justice of the ordinary serving man. It may be that in a few months, perhaps earlier, it may be possible to make some mitigation of our present system of release, and I will most carefully consider in what way it may be made possible so as to give the greatest amount of satisfaction.
§ Lord H. CAVENDISH-BENTINCKHas not the time arrived when some mitigation might be granted?
§ Mr. CHURCHILLNo.