HC Deb 26 June 1924 vol 175 c575
43. Captain BRASS

asked the Under-Secretary of State for Air whether he is aware that Mr. Mackay, a canteen manager at Farnborough, who had been declared substitutable and the vacancy advertised by the joint substitution board, has now been declared non-substitutable without any reference to that board: and whether he can state the record of service of Mr. Mackay during the War and the reason for the reversal of the previous decision?

Mr. LEACH

The answer to the first part of the question is in the affirmative. As regards the second part., the reason for the retention of Mr. Mackay, who was medically unfit for service in His Majesty's Forces in the War, was given in my reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Spring-burn (Mr. Hardie), on 29th April last.

Captain BRASS

May I ask, from the point of view of Mr. Mackay—I do not want it to be said that I am reflecting in any way on his services—whether there was not an ex-service man who might have taken his place?

Mr. LEACH

There was not one who was regarded as substitutable, but in view of the representations made to me by the officers at Farnborough and the local ex-service Civil Service. Associations, I think I did right to retain him.

Lieut.-Colonel Sir SAMUEL HOARE

Does the chairman of the Joint Substitution Board approve of the action taken by the Air Ministry?

Mr. LEACH

I could not say.

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