HC Deb 25 March 1919 vol 114 c201
10. Brigadier-General COCKERILL

asked the Secretary of State for War whether a man serving in an agricultural company in the United Kingdom can volunteer or be detailed for service on the land with a private employer; and, if so, whether a man so serving, who is ineligible for demobilisation but can prove that he is the occupying tenant of a farm that is being neglected through lack of labour, can obtain his own services on payment instead of working for a stranger?

Mr. CHURCHILL

Soldiers serving in agricultural companies are sent out for work on the land with private employers. In many cases these men are already working on their own holdings. All not in the retained classes are being demobilised. Those who are ineligible for demobilisation will shortly have to be withdrawn for military duty, and therefore it is inadvisable to move these men from their present employment.