§ 18. Mr. Rhys Daviesasked the Postmaster-General, whether he is aware that several persons, males and females, certified as medically unfit to continue in employment on the established staff of his Department, have been passed grade A1 into the Fighting and auxiliary Services, and that some of those have been promoted for distinguished services; and will he consider providing for their reinstatement as established servants in the Post Office on their return to civil life.
§ Captain CrookshankI must reserve the right to consider such cases on their merits; but on the facts of the two cases which have been brought to my notice I am prepared to reinstate the two officers concerned on their return to civil life, subject to medical examination at the time and to a good health record during a trial period.
§ Major PetherickHow is it that these persons were passed unfit for service in the Post Office and yet were passed A1 for the Army? Is it not astonishing?
§ Captain CrookshankI cannot answer as to the medical examination for the Air Force or for the Army, but the individuals concerned were, of course, discharged from the Post Office for long periods of neurasthenia and on very good grounds of health at that time.
§ Mr. StephenWill the right hon. and gallant Gentleman now take a more generous course in these cases than that taken by his predecessor in a similar case?
§ Captain CrookshankNo, Sir, there have been no similar cases to the one to which the hon. Gentleman is referring. In that case there was a wrong diagnosis. This is not a question of wrong diagnosis, but of long periods of actual illness.