HC Deb 25 May 1939 vol 347 cc2663-4

Lords Amendment: In page 5, line 26, after "force," insert "or been appointed to be an officer thereof."

Mr. W. S. Morrison

I beg to move, "That this House doth agree with the Lords in the said Amendment."

It is a drafting Amendment.

Mr. J. J. Davidson

I do not think this Amendment can be described as merely a drafting Amendment.

Mr. Henderson Stewart

Speak up.

11.12 p.m.

Mr. Davidson

That is the first time I have ever been told to speak up. If hon. Members, instead of talking in individual groups, would listen, they could hear me. I was saying that I do not think this can be described as merely a drafting Amendment, and I should like the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster or the Secretary of State for War to give us some explanation of what is meant by the words, "or been appointed to be an officer thereof." It would seem that if "he has been appointed to be an officer thereof" he will be exempt. Does that mean that someone who has applied for a commission and has been promised a commission but was not actually trained for a commission, will come in under this category?

The Secretary of State for War (Mr. Hore-Belisha)

The Amendment is really drafting. The Clause as it stands says: A person who has, before the twenty-seventh day of April nineteen hundred and thirty-nine, been accepted for service in one of His Majesty's reserve and auxiliary forces, and who has neither—

  1. (a) failed to comply with any directions given by the competent authority requiring him to join that force, nor
  2. (b) been notified by that authority that his services in that force are not required, shall not be liable to be called up for military training under this Act, notwithstanding that he may not yet have been entered or enlisted in that force," etc.
The hon. Member will see that the words "entered or enlisted in that force" would not cover an officer, failing the making of this drafting Amendment.