§ 37. Mr. MANDERasked the Secretary of State for War whether he will take steps to see that the Officers' Training Corps at the public schools are genuinely voluntary bodies, and that no compulsion to join, direct or indirect, is applied?
§ Mr. SHAWArrangements for recruiting for contingents of the Officers' Training Corps rest with the school authorities. So far as the Army Council are concerned there is no question of compulsion, direct or indirect.
§ Mr. MANDERIs the right hon. Gentleman aware that there exists in effect a system of conscription in the public schools of this country?
§ Mr. SHAWI am not aware of what the conditions in the public schools are. I am only responsible for my own Department, and, as far as that Department is concerned, it gives no instructions at all, nor has it any powers in the public schools.
§ Mr. ANNESLEY SOMERVILLEIs it not the case that such training corps always have been, and must be, on a voluntary basis?
§ Mr. SHAWI can express no opinion on what has happened, and I cannot prophesy with regard to the future.
§ Mr. THURTLEWill the right hon. Gentleman make grants to these corps conditional upon the fact that no compulsion is employed by the headmasters to get boys to join?