§ 7 and 8. Lieut.-Commander Hutchisonasked the Minister of Labour (1) whether he will instruct Military Service (Hardship) Committees that, when interviewing applicants for deferment, they should not request that the relations for whom such applicants keep house should move into lodgings and dispose of their household effects;
(2) whether he will instruct Military Service (Hardship) Committees to grant deferment to the daughter of a widower if she is the only female relative available to look after his house?
§ Mr. BevinI have no authority to issue such instructions to the Military Service (Hardship) Committees. It is the duty of the committees to consider applications for postponement in accordance with the principles laid down in the National Service (Postponement Certificates) Regulations, as interpreted by the Umpire. I am sending my hon. and gallant Friend a copy of a leading decision recently given by the Umpire to indicate the circumstances in which postponement should be granted to the daughter keeping house for a widower father. The principles laid down in that decision would be applicable to the sort of case to which my hon. and gallant Friend refers in his Question No. 7.