2. Lieut.-Colonel Sir F. HALLasked the Lord Privy Seal whether, seeing that under the Peace Treaty German soldiers are required to remain with the Colours 12 years, and that the German Army authorities are taking advantage of the law which forbade a young man to contract an engagement without his parents' consent until he is of age by enrolling recruits of 18 and 19 years of age, giving them a couple of years' thorough training, and then discharging them on the ground that their enlistment was irregular as their parents' consent was not first obtained, he will state what steps are being taken to put a stop to this further evasion of the Treaty?
§ The UNDER-SECRETARY of STATE for WAR (Lieut.-Colonel Sir R. Sanders)I have been asked to answer this question. The Inter-Allied Military Commission of Control have the matter before them, and are requesting the German Government to amend their recruiting legislation by a clause making the enlistment of minors legal, whether they have obtained the consent of their parents or not.