§
Motion made, and Question proposed,
That a number of Air Forces, not exceeding 32,500, all ranks, be maintained for
§ the Service of the United Kingdom at home and abroad, exclusive of those serving in India, during the year ending on the 31st day of March, 1929."
§ Lieut.-Commander KENWORTHYI beg to move, to reduce the Vote by 100 men.
I move this Amendment in order to call attention to a number of scandalous doings of the Air Minister. In spite 1651 of this being the opening year of the air age, there is not a single municipal aerodrome in Great Britain. There is not an Air Force specially provided by any great city, and yet the Air Minister has not expressed his regret at this fact. It is obvious that great cities like Birmingham, Leeds, Manchester—[HON. MEMBERS: "And Hull!"]—the Humber would make a good seaplane base, and I hope that the Schneider Cup race will take place there next year. The great cities I have mentioned ought to have bought land at agricultural prices in order to earmark such land for civil aviation as has been done in Germany, America, Italy and in France. We are very much behind other nations in civil aviation. As far as I can make out, the Minister is content with this state of affairs and as long as he gets a few more additional squadrons he is quite happy. He is doing nothing to educate and encourage our great municipalities to set aerodromes before the available land is built over. In aviation, it is necessary to look ahead, and that is the one thing which this Government cannot do. That is my first complaint. The second is in regard to a matter which I have mentioned before, and to which the right hon. Gentleman has promised to give attention. The great majority of the Service aerodromes, air stations, hangars, and landing grounds are in the south of England. They are there for purposes of war, and they are not well placed, because, if we lost the first engagement—and I would remind hon. Members that in all wars we always lose the first battle or two——
§ Colonel APPLINWe always win the last.
§ Lieut. - Commander KENWORTHYWe may not be able to rely upon that in air warfare. The main aerodromes and landing grounds should be well north of the central line of England. and there the main air bases should be. The right hon. Gentleman has agreed with me about this before, and has said that it would receive attention. What should be done is to establish temporary landing grounds in the South, while the main air arsenals, if I may use that term, should be in the North. A glance at the map showing the distribution of air stations in England will show that they are all clustered 1652 around London, and the first objective of an active and enterprising enemy would be to bomb them to pieces. [Interruption.] It is far more important to knock out the Air Force, and then it would not be necessary to bomb London. The hon. Gentleman who interrupts me has forgotten the elements of strategy that he picked up during the War. The first element is that your first objective should be the armed forces of your enemy, and then you can bring pressure to bear upon him afterwards, and I hope that the hon. and gallant Member from Ireland, who is a natural-born strategist, as all Irishmen are, will vote for my Amendment this evening. This distribution of the assembly or mobilisation stations is wrong. They are too exposed, and should be further inland. I have drawn attention to this matter before, and the right hon. Gentleman has always looked very wise and secretive, and has always agreed with me and said that the matter would have attention, but nothing has happened.
The hon. and gallant Member for Chatham (Lieut.-Colonel Moore-Brabazon) made a speech earlier in the evening in which he said that what we needed to-day was the freedom of the air, and he quoted the case of Persia. I will not say anything more about that, except that, as far as I gather, the real reason for this deadlock with Persia is because a German-Russian company put up a civilian aerodrome at Teheran, and asked leave to run to Bagdad, and, for some unknown reason, our ever-wise Government refused. [Interruption.] Persia is not under the Soviet at all, but this German company with Russian capital wanted to run to Bagdad, and I should have thought that we would have jumped at the chance and asked for reciprocal arrangements, so that we could extend our influence. Because we did not do that, and because of other differences between the Foreign Secretary and the Persian Government, this vital link on our air route to India is being held up. I agree that it is absurd that we in Iraq should prevent these people from flying to Bagdad, while the Persians prevent us from flying over their territory to India. Certainly, the freedom of the air is required.
There is, however, a far more serious example than that. In 1923 we organized 1653 an air line from London to Prague, and we have been held up by the refusal of the Germans to allow us to fly over their territory, because they had certain grievances as to the application of the Air Clause of the Treaty of Versailles. For five years we have allowed ourselves to be slapped in the face, figuratively speaking, by the German Government, British aeroplanes have been all ready to go to Prague, and the Czechoslovakian Government has been anxious for the establishment of this service, but it has been prevented and held up by the Germans, who years ago allowed the French the fullest facilities. I can only put this down to lack of interest in the Foreign Office, and the responsibility for that lies on the right hon. Gentleman. He is a very influential, popular and persuasive member of the Government. Why does he not energise about it? The two right hon. Barenets were back benchers with me in the Coalition Government, and I always looked upon them as most promising young Tories. Immediately they got into office the blight of Tory inaction descended upon them. I do not mind reaction so much. It is Tory inaction that I object to. The case of this air route is very scandalous. Have we any intention to operate this very important air route through Central Europe? There are members of the Commercial Committee who know that Czechoslovakia is a very important market for our goods, and it is most important that we should establish this route. For five years we have been held up in this puerile way simply through lack of push and go on the part of the right hon. Gentleman. It is his business, because the Foreign Secretary is taken up with the affairs of China and the United States and the wonderful Council of Geneva and so on. He needs pushing. He has the whole world to survey, but the right hon. Gentleman has the particular responsibility for the furthering of British aviation enterprise. [Interruption.] I dare say that is the ultimate destination of the hon. Member opposite.
I now want to say a word about Iraq, and I speak most seriously to my right hon. Friend. I do not like the communiqués that appear in the papers. Apparently, there is no holy war, but I do not like these alarmist bulletins. I 1654 did not like the speech of the Under-Secretary a few minutes ago when he spoke of preventing the slaughtering of women and children of the tribes on our side of the frontier. Is he aware that in the ordinary desert warfare, camel raiding expeditions, women and children are not killed? That is a rule of Bedouin warfare. The raiding of each other's territories is the national sport of that part of the country. When I was in Palestine a year ago, I crossed over to Transjordania, and there met a delightful old chief who explained to me the cause of the trouble. He had been engaged in camel raids. He said, "It is all very well. We have nothing else to do." He was a man of 60, and from his youth upwards he had been brought up every year or two to organise a raid to take camels from neighbouring tribes. A few shots were fired, and occasionally someone was killed and blood money would have to be paid. But the raids are not serious, and the women and children are never touched. The Under-Secretary of State for India has ridden on these raids, except that the Turks were the objective. The Turks aroused every Arab at the beginning of the campaign by sacking a town and killing women and children. I am sorry to say we are in danger of emulating the Turk in this matter.
The complaint made, according to the advices we get in the English newspapers, these particular raids started with strikes on our side of the frontier, and that the Wahabi raids were retaliations. In any case, if we bomb their encampments and kill their women, that arouses a blood fend, and these men are by a code of honour bound to try and avenge these losses. We must be extremely careful not to take all our statements from one side only, namely, the native Government of Iraq, who for dynastic and religions reasons do not love the Wahabi. When the Wahabis have come with their flocks to wells which they have been in the habit of using for 100 years they have found a post put down with native levies who have refused to let them come to the wells. That, very naturally, leads to fighting. It shows the extreme need of exercising care in the defence of Iraq. Has the right hon. Gentleman the assistance of political officers? Are political officers there who know the people and 1655 speak their language? If they are not, I do not think that it is fair to put the onus of the decisions on the Air Marshal in Command in Iraq unless he is properly advised on the political side. Above all, I do not want to see our Air Force in Iraq made the mere tool of the Government of Bagdad either in connection with the non-payment of taxes or the carrying of bloody reprisals into the camps of those tribes who engage in the national sport of camel raiding.
As if this was not sufficient, we have had further bombing against the town of Kataba carried out from the territory of the Aden Protectorate in the Yemen. At Question Time to-day we were told that 48 hours' notice were given and the town was bombed by aeroplanes because there had been a quarrel between Imam and some proteges of ours and we had taken the side of our proteges and had bombed one of these towns. I am not sure that is quite the best way of spreading the blessings of civilisation in the desert. I hope that it is not resorted to except in the very last possible resort. I will only ask the House to remember the effects of the first German air raids on this country. They were of no military effect whatever. No military damage was done, but innocent people were killed, civilian dwellings were destroyed, and there was a spirit aroused among our people which was worth many divisions of volunteers for our Army and which certainly embittered the whole national outlook towards the War. There is not much difference between the feelings of an Englishman when his house is bombed by a German Zeppelin, and the feelings of an Arab when his encampment or stone house is bombed by a British aeroplane. I do hope that the air arm in the desert will be used with the greatest possible restraint.
I want to speak on one further matter, and that is the action taken last year, and I suppose will be taken this year, although I hope it will not, by the right hon. Gentleman in regard to school children in London and the Home Counties and the Hendon air display. I do not want to be misunderstood. Parents took their children to see the raiding and bombing of a dummy village to pieces by bombs from the air. That is the private concern of the family; but I do not think it is quite playing the game for 1656 the Minister to send a circular to the education authorities of Greater London and the Home Counties inviting them to organise school treats to be admitted gratis to the dress rehearsal of the Hendon air display, and to see the shooting down of kite balloons, attacks by the aeroplanes, the bombing of native villages from the air, and so on. If the parents take their children, that is a matter for the individual conscience, but if you are deliberately to go out of your way to organise school treats you will lay yourselves open to the suspicion that you are trying to inure the young mind to fighting in the air, and that it is part of a deliberate propaganda in which all the Fighting Services are engaged, to counteract the pacifist tendency that has resulted from the War. I would like a reply from the right hon. Gentleman as to whether these glorified school treats are to be organised this year for the Hendon air display.
I notice that the major part of the programme which has been arranged for our distinguished visitor the King of Afghanistan consists of reviews of troops, mimic battles with tanks, a display of our mechanised section of the Army, and the Grand Fleet going to sea to carry out heavy gun firing. His Majesty is to go down in a submarine to fire a torpedo, and finally, there is to be the usual display by the Royal Air Force with, I presume, mimic combats in the air.
Here we have a very welcome visit from a great Mohammedan ruler, and we show him the results of nearly 2,000 years of Christian culture and civilisation. What sort of impression will he take away? Is this really the best way of impressing an oriental potentate with our advance, our progress, our civilisation, our learning and our culture? Battleships engaged in big gun practice, tanks in mechanised warfare, and a mimic battle display by the Air Force. I admit that it will be a spectacular display by the right hon. Gentleman's aeroplanes. Is the object to hawk for orders for machines? I hardly think that can be the object. I suppose it is simply a matter of habit. We became Prussianised during the War and we have not yet lost our Prussian ideas. Whenever the ex-Kaiser wanted to do great honour to a visiting sovereign he staged a tremendous parade of troops and we are doing the same thing.
§ Colonel HOWARD-BURYThe German Republic have done it.
§ Lieut. - Commander KENWORTHYYes, the German Republic had a display of troops, and more the pity. Italy had the same sort of thing. But this is peace-loving England. We are not as these militarist nations on the Continent. The Under-Secretary told us that we are the most peaceful and most disarming of all peoples. The fact that the Germans and the Italians do this sort of thing is no excuse why we should do it. I would much rather that the welcome to this Sovereign, whose visit I naturally welcome, had taken a more peaceful form. The right hon. Gentleman talks peace, but he acts war. He increases armaments, engages in this subtle and despicable propaganda for school children; he is always ready to lend his airmen and airplanes for the making of war films at any time—the Air Force has become a film super—and it is all part of a deliberate attempt to counteract any peace propaganda that has been possible during the past few years. It is deliberately done by the party opposite and the heads of the Fighting Services; and the heads of the Air Service are not at all behind. It is most unsatisfactory, most disappointing, and altogether wrong. It is not conducive to the peace of the world and, therefore, I propose to reduce the Vote by 100 men.
§ Sir S. HOAREWhile I was speaking this afternoon a very terrible tragedy took place in the Air Force. I was describing to the House the efforts we were making to win the World's record speed, and I was telling the House that the experiments were actually taking place in the Solent. Little did I know that at that very moment the gallant officer who had been selected to make the attempt had lost his life, that his machine had crashed from the air, and that he had fallen with it into the sea. Let us turn aside before I deal with the questions which have been raised in this Debate to offer our sympathy to his family, and pay a tribute of respect to one of the finest officers in the Force, a young man with an unrivalled record who might in the ordinary course have reached the highest post in his great profession. I am afraid the way of progress is strewn with sacrifices of this kind, none the less regrettable, and particularly 1658 when they happen in the dramatic manner in which this tragedy took place this afternoon.
I pass with these few sentences to the many questions which have been raised in the course of the Debate. In my experience I do not think we have ever had so interesting a discussion, and one which has raised so many different questions. Indeed, if I dealt at length, as they deserve, with the many questions that have been raised, I should be making an undue call on the time of the House at a very late hour. I shall therefore try to confine myself to the main issues which have been raised, and if I pass over any of the smaller details it will not be because I have not an answer ready, but because it may be for the convenience of the House that I should deal with them at some earlier hour, when the Debate is resumed on the Report stage next week.
I will begin with the last speech that has been made—the second speech made by the hon. and gallant Member for Centrad Hull (Lieut.-Commander Kenworthy). During the course of the afternoon we have had the pleasure—not, perhaps, a unique pleasure—of listening to the hon. and gallant Member twice on a single day. In the first of his speeches he was kind enough to say that I ought to be impeached. He criticised me in so kindly a fashion that I say to him that, if and when the time does come for my impeachment, I do not think the hon. and gallant Member will be my judge. But, as the Debate went on, the hon. and gallant Member became somewhat more lenient, and in the second of his speeches he said that what I needed was not so much impeachment as greater energy in the conduct of the affairs of the Air Ministry. He quoted one or two instances to show what he claims to be the want of energy that I have displayed in dealing with this or that urgent question. He began with the question of municipal aerodromes. Will he help me to induce local authorities, over whom I have no authority whatever, to provide municipal aerodromes? I have been trying to induce them to provide such aerodromes for years, not, so far, with very great success. Let the hon. and gallant Member, with his great ability and energy, assist me in this effort, and let him make a beginning with the municipality of Hull.
1659 Then the hon. and gallant Member went on to say that our Air stations, from the point of view of strategy, were not well placed. All I can say is that we have selected the sites after the most careful consideration of the strategical interests involved, and that, while on the one hand it is obviously advantageous to have one's aerodromes as far from the point of danger as possible, on the other hand it is necessary to have them sufficiently near any possible scene of operations to make your machines and your personnel available in time of national emergency. We believe that we have held the balance between these two needs, and, whilst many of our fighting units are in the South of England, we are gradually bringing the air bases and arsenals out of the range of the coast.
The hon. and gallant Member went on to criticise our attitude in the matter of international agreements. He referred to the case of Persia. He gave a reason, an incorrect reason, for the fact that we have not been able to obtain facilities for the Persian section of the Indian air route. I am sure our failure has not been for want of trying. I can assure him also that the reason he assigned for it—namely, the desire of a German company to fly to Bagdad—had, so far as my information went, nothing whatever to do with the refusal of the Persian Government.
Then he quoted the case of the projected air route to Prague. There again we have been constantly trying to inaugurate a service between London and Prague, and I can tell him that the difficulty at present is not any difficulty raised by the German Government. I was hopeful that might now be surmounted, but the difficulty is a money difficulty—the difficulty of providing subsidies for the service. I assure him that the failure to start this route has in no way been connected with any want of desire on our part or any want of energy in pressing that desire into effect. Then he went on to criticise the Government for the manner in which they are carrying out the present military operations in the South of Iraq, and during his observations he made what seemed to me to be one very wise remark. He said to me, "Do not take your information 1660 from one side only." I suggest that he should himself follow that advice and that he should not assume that the alarmist reports which have been arriving in this country from Basra and Mecca and other centres in the Middle East necessarily give a correct view of the situation. I am not going to claim that the situation is without its anxieties. No situation can be without its anxieties when we are faced with the problem of defending a desert frontier of so many hundreds of miles. I can tell him that the alarmist reports are so far at any rate without foundation. We are not at war with Ibn Saud, and I hope we shall never be at war with him. Ibn Saud is a powerful Arab chief and in years past has been on friendly relations with the British Empire. I hope that friendly relations will long continue. We are engaged, not in war with Ibn Saud, but in the necessary duty of repelling murderous and plundering marauders who have crossed the Iraq frontier. The marauders are of a tribe who have been in open rebellion against Ibn Saud and they did not behave in the manner which the hon. and gallant Gentleman suggested was the usual behaviour of Arab tribes in the matter of raids. These marauders at any rate did not spare women and children. They advanced many miles beyond the Iraq frontier and there was no atrocity which they did not commit, not only against the male population but against the women and children as well. I believe and hope that the forces at our disposal will be sufficient to meet this danger, and that at no very distant date we shall be in as friendly relations with the Government of Nejd as we have been in the past.
§ Lieut. - Commander KENWORTHYThere have been reports of attacks on the Transjordania population, even going so far as to say that Akaba and other places were attacked. Has the right hon. Gentleman any information about that?
§ Sir S. HOAREThose reports are equally alarmist: and equally incorrect is the report that the inhabitants of Transjordania or Iraq were the first offenders. As far as I know, there is no case in which the tribes of Iraq or Transjordania have advanced info Wahabi country, unless it be in the last few days in repelling the attacks of the marauders. The attacks were initiated 1661 by the Mutair tribe of Nejd and in no way by the tribes of either Iraq or Transjordania.
The last question he raised was in regard to the Air Pageant. The last thing in the world I wish to do is to encourage militarist opinions in anybody, man, woman or child, but I really think the hon. and gallant Gentleman is a little over-sensitive—I was going to say morbid—when he thinks that attendance at the Air Pageant at Hendon is going to inspire militarist views in anybody's mind. I think the children go there, just as I and other Members go there, to see a very fine display of the best flying in the world, and I do not believe for a moment that any militarist tendencies are encouraged in any way by the attendance of men, women or children at that very fine show. We are following exactly the precedent of the Military Tournament, and, as far as I know, that Tournament has never encouraged militarist views in the mind of anybody. [Interruption.] I wonder if hon. Members have attended the Military Tournament as many times as I have. I remember going there as one of the first shows to which I went as a little boy——
§ Miss WILKINSONThey have made you a militarist!
§ Sir S. HOAREThey have made me a very poor militarist, and I certainly would disclaim the epithet that the hon. Lady has just applied to me. I do not believe for a moment that the invitation to children to attend the Air Force display is in any way encouraging militarist views, and I am supported by the fact that, although we have issued invitations to many schools in the past, we have not had a single protest from any local education authority. When we receive protests from local education authorities, then we shall of course give them the attention that is due to them. I pass from the questions raised by the hon. and gallant Member in his last speech to a number of other issues raised during the Debate.
The DEPUTY-CHAIRMANThere is always a tendency when these Debates take place after having got Mr. Speaker out of the Chair, to confuse the two Debates. They are separate Debates, and questions raised in the first Debate cannot be answered in the second.
§ Sir S. HOAREI am, of course, entirely within your ruling, and shall follow any decision you might make; but I did ask Mr. Speaker, before he left the Chair, what would be the course of the Debate, and he himself suggested to me that I should deal, on Vote A, which is the general Vote, with certain questions raised in the previous Debate. I shall, however, of course, follow whatever decision you may give on the subject.
The DEPUTY-CHAIRMANThat has not been the procedure in the past. It has often been ruled out of order on previous occasions, and I think we had better adhere to that ruling.
§ Lieut.-Commander KENWORTHYOn a point of Order. Might I remind you that on Thursday, on the Army Estimates, the Minister for War dealt with one or two matters with which he had not had time to deal in his speech before the Speaker left the Chair, on wide questions of policy?
The DEPUTY-CHAIRMANI believe he dealt with one question, and I was wrong in not calling him to order.
§ Sir S. HOAREIn view of your decision, I had better delay the answer to the other points raised in the Debate until one or other of the Votes gives an opportunity. If no opportunity is given this evening, I will undertake, so far as I am in order, to answer the question when we resume the Debate on the Report stage.
§ Question put, "That a number, not exceeding 32,400, all ranks, be maintained for the said Service."
§ The Committee divided: Ayes, 75; Noes, 187.
1665| Division No. 31.] | AYES. | [11.42 p.m. |
| Adamson, W. M. (Staff., Cannock) | Bowerman, Rt. Hon. Charles W. | Dalton, Hugh |
| Alexander, A. V. (Sheffield, Hillsbro') | Bromfield, William | Day, Harry |
| Ammon, Charles George | Bromley, J. | Dennison, R. |
| Barker, G. (Monmouth, Abertillery) | Brown, Ernest (Leith) | Duncan, C. |
| Barnes, A. | Buchanan, G. | Dunnico, H. |
| Barr, J. | Charleton, H. C. | Edwards, C. (Monmouth, Bedwellty) |
| Batey, Joseph | Clowes, S. | Garro-Jones, Captain G. M. |
| Gibbins, Joseph | Lunn, William | Smith, H. B. Lees (Keighley) |
| Grenfell, D. R. (Glamorgan) | MacDonald, Rt. Hon. J. R. (Aberavon) | Snowden, Rt. Hon. Philip |
| Grundy, T. W. | Maclean, Nell (Glasgow, Govan) | Stephen, Campbell |
| Hall, G. H. (Merthyr Tydvil) | Malone, C. L'Estrange (N'thampton) | Sullivan, J. |
| Hardie, George D. | Maxton, James | Sutton, J. E. |
| Hayday, Arthur | Morris, R. H. | Thomas, Rt. Hon. James H. (Derby) |
| Hirst, G. H. | Murnin, H. | Tinker, John Joseph |
| Jenkins, W. (Glamorgan, Neath) | Oliver, George Harold | Townend, A. E. |
| Johnston, Thomas (Dundee) | Paling, W. | Viant, S. P. |
| Jones, Morgan (Caerphilly) | Parkinson, John Allen (Wigan) | Walsh, Rt. Hon. Stephen |
| Jones, T. I. Mardy (Pontypridd) | Pethick-Lawrence, F. W. | Watts-Morgan, Lt.-Col. D. (Rhondda) |
| Kelly, W. T. | Ponsonby, Arthur | Wellock, Wilfred |
| Kennedy, T. | Potts, John S. | Welsh, J. C. |
| Kenworthy, Lt.-Com. Hon. Joseph M. | Richardson, R. (Houghton-le-Spring) | Wheatley, Rt. Hon. J. |
| Lansbury, George | Riley, Ben | Wilkinson, Ellen C. |
| Lawrence, Susan | Rose, Frank H. | Williams, T. (York, Don Valley) |
| Lawson, John James | Saklatvala, Shapurji | |
| Lee, F. | Shepherd, Arthur Lewis | TELLERS FOR THE AYES.— |
| Lindley, F. W. | Short, Alfred (Wednesbury) | Mr Hayes and Mr. whiteley. |
| NOES. | ||
| Acland-Troyte, Lieut.-Colonel | Ford, Sir P. J. | Mitchell, Sir W. Lane (Streatham) |
| Agg-Gardner, Rt. Hon. Sir James T. | Forrest, W. | Moore, Lieut.-Colonel T. C. R. (Ayr) |
| Albery, Irving James | Fraser, Captain Ian | Moore-Brabazon, Lieut.-Col. J. T. C. |
| Allen, J. Sandeman (L'pool, W. Derby) | Fremantle, Lt.-Col. Francis E. | Newman, Sir R. H. S. D. L. (Exeter) |
| Applin, Colonel R. V. K. | Galbraith, J. F. W. | Oakley, T. |
| Ashley, Lt.-Col. Rt. Hon. Wilfrid W. | Ganzoni, Sir John | O'Connor, T. J. (Bedford, Luton) |
| Astbury, Lieut.-Commander F. W. | Gault, Lieut.-Col. Andrew Hamilton | Penny, Frederick George |
| Astor, Maj. Hn. John J. (Kent, Dover) | Gilmour, Lt.-Col. Rt. Hon. Sir John | Percy, Lord Eustace (Hastings) |
| Balniel, Lord | Goff, Sir Park | Perring, Sir William George |
| Barclay-Harvey, C. M. | Gower, Sir Robert | Peto, Sir Basil E. (Devon, Barnstaple) |
| Beamish, Rear-Admiral T. P. H. | Grattan-Doyle, Sir N. | Peto, G. (Somerset, Frome) |
| Bennett, A. J. | Greene, W. P. Crawford | Pilcher, G. |
| Betterton, Henry B. | Grotrian, H. Brent | Power, Sir John Cecil |
| Bird, Sir R. B. (Wolverhampton, W.) | Guinness, Rt. Hon. Walter E. | Pownall, Sir Assheton |
| Blundell, F. N. | Gunston, Captain D. W. | Preston, William |
| Boothby, R. J. G. | Hall, Lieut.-Col. Sir F. (Dulwich) | Price, Major C. W. M. |
| Bourne, Captain Robert Croft | Hall, Capt. W. D'A. (Brecon & Rad.) | Raine, Sir Walter |
| Bowyer, Captain G. E. W. | Hammersley, S. S. | Ramsden, E. |
| Brass, Captain W. | Hannon, Patrick Joseph Henry | Rawson, Sir Cooper |
| Bridgeman, Rt. Hon. William Clive | Harland, A. | Remer, J. R. |
| Briggs, J. Harold | Harrison, G. J. C. | Rhys, Hon. C. A. U. |
| Brittain, Sir Harry | Harvey, Major S. E. (Devon, Totnes) | Richardson, Sir P. W. (Sur'y,Ch'ts'y) |
| Brocklebank, C. E. R. | Haslam, Henry C. | Robinson, Sir T. (Lancs., Stretford) |
| Brooke, Brigadier-General C. R. I. | Headlam, Lieut.-Colonel C. M. | Ropner, Major L. |
| Broun-Lindsay, Major H. | Henderson, Capt. R. R.(Oxf'd, Henley) | Salmon, Major I. |
| Brown, Brig.-Gen. H.C.(Berks, Newb'y) | Henderson, Lt.-Col. Sir V. L. (Bootle) | Samuel, A. M. (Surrey, Farnham) |
| Buchan, John | Heneage, Lieut.-Colonel Arthur P. | Samuel, Samuel (W'dsworth, Putney) |
| Burman, J. B. | Henn, Sir Sydney H. | Sandeman, N. Stewart |
| Butler, Sir Geoffrey | Hennessy, Major Sir G. R. J. | Sanderson, Sir Frank |
| Campbell, E. T. | Herbert, Dennis (Hertford, Watford) | Sassoon, Sir Philip Albert Gustave D. |
| Carver, Major W. H. | Hills, Major John Waller | Savery, S. S. |
| Cecil, Rt. Hon. Sir Evelyn (Aston) | Hoare, Lt.-Col. Rt. Hon. Sir S. J. G. | Shaw, R. G. (Yorks, W.R., Sowerby) |
| Chamberlain, Rt. Hon. N. (Ladywood) | Hogg, Rt. Hon. Sir D.(St.Marylebone) | Shaw, Lt.-Col. A. D. Mcl. (Renfrew, W) |
| Cobb, Sir Cyril | Holbrook, Sir Arthur Richard | Sheffield, Sir Berkeley |
| Cockerill, Brig.-General Sir George | Hopkinson, A. (Lancaster, Mossley) | Shepperson, E. W. |
| Conway, Sir W. Martin | Howard-Bury, Colonel C. K. | Slaney, Major P. Kenyon |
| Couper, J. B. | Hudson, Capt. A. U. M.(Hackney, N.) | Smith, R. W.(Aberd'n & Kinc'dine, C.) |
| Cowan, D. M. (Scottish Universities) | Hutchison, Sir Robert (Montrose) | Smithers, Waldron |
| Craig, Sir Ernest (Chester, Crewe) | Inskip, Sir Thomas Walker H. | Somerville, A. A. (Windsor) |
| Crawfurd, H. L. | Iveagh, Countess of | Stanley, Lieut.-Colonel Rt. Hon. G. F. |
| Crooke, J. Smedley (Derltend) | Jones, Henry Haydn (Merioneth) | Stanley, Lord (Fylde) |
| Crookshank, Col. C. de W. (Berwick) | Kindersley, Major G. M. | Stanley, Hon. O. F. G.(Westm'eland) |
| Crookshank, Cpt. H. (Lindsey, Gainsbro) | King, Commodore Henry Douglas | Steel, Major Samuel Strang |
| Culverwell, C. T. (Bristol, West) | Lamb, J. Q. | Storry-Deans, R. |
| Curzon, Captain Viscount | Little, Dr. E. Graham | Stott, Lieut.-Colonel W. H. |
| Davidson, Major-General Sir J. H. | Long, Major Eric | Strauss, E. A. |
| Davies, Maj. Geo. F. (Somerset, Yeovil) | Looker, Herbert William | Sueter, Rear-Admiral Murray Fraser |
| Davies, Dr. Vernon | Lucas-Tooth, Sir Hugh Vere | Templeton, W. P. |
| Dawson, Sir Philip | Lumley, L. R. | Thompson, Luke (Sunderland) |
| Drewe, C. | MacAndrew, Major Charles Glen | Thomson, F. C. (Aberdeen, South) |
| Edmondson, Major A. J. | Macdonald, Capt. P. D. (I. of W.) | Thomson, Rt. Hon. Sir W. Mitchell- |
| Elliot, Major Walter E. | Macintyre, Ian | Tinne, J. A. |
| Ellis, R. G. | McLean, Major A. | Tomlinson, R. P. |
| England, Colonel A. | Macmillan, Captain H. | Wallace, Captain D. E. |
| Evans, Captain A. (Cardiff, South) | MacRobert, Alexander M. | Ward, Lt.-Col. A. L.(Kingston-on-Hull) |
| Everard, W. Lindsay | Maitland, Sir Arthur D. Steel- | Warner, Brigadier-General W. W. |
| Fairfax, Captain J. G. | Manningham-Buller, Sir Mervyn | Warrender, Sir Victor |
| Fanshawe, Captain G. D. | Margesson, Captain D. | Watson, Rt. Hon. W. (Carlisle) |
| Fenby, T. D. | Marriott, Sir J. A. R. | Wells, S. R. |
| Fermoy, Lord | Mason, Colonel Glyn K. | White, Lieut.-Col. Sir G. Dairymple- |
| Wiggins, William Martin | Womersley, W. J. | TELLERS FOR THE NOES.— |
| Williams, C. P. (Denbigh, Wrexham) | Wood, E. (Chester, Staly'b'ge & Hyde) | MajorCope and Major The Marquess of Titchfield. |
| Williams, Herbert G. (Reading) | Woodcock, Colonel H. C. | |
| Winterton, Rt. Hon. Earl |
Question put, and agreed to.