§ 9.21 p.m.
§ The Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (Mr. W. S. Morrison)I beg to 1744 move, in page 4, line 25, at the end, to insert:
or(e) is the subject of an order or imposition under the Lunacy and Mental Treatment Acts, 1890 to 1930, or is being detained in pursuance of Section twenty-five of the Lunacy Act, 1890, or as a criminal lunatic or in pursuance of an order made under the Criminal Lunatics Act, 1884, or is undergoing treatment as a temporary patient under Section five of the Mental Treatment Act, 1930, or is a person placed in an institution or a certified house, or under guardianship, under Section three of the Mental Deficiency Act, 1913, or is the subject of an order under Section six, eight, or nine of that Act, or is under supervision provided under paragraph (b) of Section thirty of that Act, or is an inmate of a home approved under Section fifty of that Act, or is the subject of a notification under Sub-section (2) of Section fifty-one of that Act; or(f) is certified by a local authority, as defined by the Blind Persons Acts, 1920 and 1938, to be registered as a blind person under arrangements made by the authority under those Acts.My right hon. and learned Friend the Lord Advocate has already explained the purpose of comparable provisions for Scotland, and I need not detain the House at any great length. The purpose of this Amendment is to exempt from the obligation to register persons who are under care as mental defectives and persons who are blind.
§ Amendment agreed to.
§ 9.23 p.m.
§ Mr. Hore-BelishaI beg to move, in page 4, line 42, at the end, to insert:
and for the purposes of this Sub-section a person shall be deemed to have been accepted before the said date for service in one of His Majesty's reserve and auxiliary forces if he offered himself before that date for such service and has been accepted by the competent authority not later than one month after the passing of this Act.In the course of the discussions on the Committee stage, the hon. Member for Nelson and Colne (Mr. Silverman) related what seemed to be a sad case of a man who had in fact applied to enter the Territorial Army before 27th April who had not received an answer to his letter, and who, therefore, would seem to come without the scope of this Bill, although he had made every endeavour to enlist in the Territorial Army before 27th April. We found on inquiry that, at the time the hon. Member was making his speech, this man, on whose behalf he spoke, was in fact a member of the Territorial Army; but nevertheless, an undertaking was 1745 given from this Box, and we have endeavoured to comply with it in the letter as well as in the spirit. There may, in fact, be cases where a person endeavoured to enlist, and was not successful in doing so, and therefore, we propose to provide for the purposes of this Sub-section that a person shall be deemed to have been accepted before the said date if he offered himself before that date and was accepted by the competent authority not later than one month after the passing of this Act. Perhaps the hon. and learned Gentleman and hon. Members opposite will agree that I have fully implemented the undertaking I gave.
§ 9.25 p.m.
§ Mr. SilvermanI think I may say at once that what the right hon. Gentleman proposes to do fully implements what he undertook at an earlier stage would be done. But, while thanking him for that, may I say he has not correctly related the facts of the case which I gave? They were indeed somewhat important, because in that case the man had applied long before any question of conscription had arisen in anybody's mind, and had been informed by the regiment to which he applied that he was accepted and need not worry, and therefore he did not make any further application. But after the principle of conscription had been accepted by this House he got a letter from that regiment, when it was apparently too late for him to do anything further about it, saying that he could not after all be accepted. However, it is quite true that at the moment I was speaking in this House he had already received a communication from the regiment in question, which put the matter right. I am very glad that that is so, and that the right hon. Gentleman has been able to put others in like case in as happy a position.
§ Mr. MaxtonI do not quite follow. Do I understand that a man who has applied and been refused will be accepted?
§ Mr. Hore-BelishaNo, he must have complied with the directions given by the competent authority.
§ Mr. MaxtonI am not particularly interested in it, but it happens that I had a letter on this very subject yesterday from somebody who had applied for admission into the Territorial Army and was turned down. Do I take it that he is liable in the ordinary way, and that this 1746 Amendment makes no difference to that person at all?
§ Mr. Hore-BelishaI think the Amendment makes it clear when it says:
and for the purposes of this Sub-section a person shall be deemed to have been accepted before the said date for service in one of His Majesty's reserve and auxiliary forces if he offered himself before that date for such service and has been accepted by the competent authority not later than one month after the passing of this Act.If he complies with the directions he will be deemed to have been accepted.
§ Mr. MaxtonThen if for some other reason he has been refused he cannot be accepted, or even be deemed to be accepted.
§ Amendment agreed to.