HC Deb 08 February 1944 vol 396 cc1608-9
20. Mr. Hugh Lawson

asked the Secretary of State for War whether he has made known, to all officers commanding units in the British Army, his wish that paragraph 541 of King's Regulations should not be interpreted too literally, or what steps he proposes to take to secure that all concerned may be so informed.

Sir J. Grigg

My hon. Friend is presumably referring to a remark I made with reference to a Question by my hon. Friend the Member for Bridgeton on 12th October last about a case in which a soldier had been convicted by court-martial and punished on a charge arising out of a breach of paragraph 541 (a) King's Regulations. By a "too literal" interpretation of that Regulation I meant to the extent of making every minor infringement of it into a major disciplinary offence. The fact that the case then in question was the only one in which a soldier had been prosecuted in the last 12 months shows, I think, that the interpretation of the Regulation is not being overstrained. I therefore see no need to issue any fresh instructions in the matter.

Mr. Lawson

Is not the right hon. Gentleman's statement a repudiation of his previous statement?

Sir J. Grigg

Not in the slightest. It is a complete re-affirmation of it.

Mr. Lawson

In view of the unsatisfactory reply, I beg to give notice that I will raise the matter on the Adjournment.