§ 33. Mr. Dobbieasked the Home Secretary whether he is yet able to give an answer to the letter sent to him by the hon. Member for Rotherham some time ago, in reference to a complaint that a number of railwaymen had been refused membership of the Home Guard by a railway company owing to a secret report of the police; and will he give the necessary instructions that a copy of such report be given to the men concerned or to the secretary of the trade union to which the men belong?
§ Mr. H. MorrisonIf the police know that an applicant for enrolment in the Home Guard has a criminal record or has hostile associations which create doubt as to his loyalty, it is right that they should give this information to the military auhorities, who are responsible for the enrolment of applicants, and I could not agree that the police should be required to make public any such information. As regards the cases to which my hon. Friend refers, I have made full inquiries, and find that while a mistake was made, which I much regret, there is, from the police point of view, no objection to the enrolment of the men in question.
§ Mr. DobbieWill instructions be given to the police, or to the railway company concerned, to send that information to the man, and give him the opportunity that other employés of the company have?
§ Mr. MorrisonI will certainly consider that point.