§ 3. Mr. Edmund Harveyasked the Minister of Labour whether he is now able to make a statement with regard to the proposal that the difference between the remuneration of a conscientious objector in civil employment and the value of a soldier's pay and rations should be paid compulsorily into a central fund and devoted to some special purpose?
§ Mr. BevinI have given careful consideration to this proposal, which would require legislation before it could be put into effect, and have discussed it with the Joint Consultative Committee representing the T.U.C. and the British Employers' Confederation. As a result, I am satisfied that, whatever may be the merits of the proposal otherwise, it would arouse acute controversy and would require disproportionately elaborate and expensive administrative machinery for its effective operation. In these circumstances I have decided not to proceed further in the matter.