§ 27. Mr. Vernon Bartlettasked the Secretary of State for War whether he will permit members of the non-combatant corps to volunteer as harvest workers.
§ Sir J. GriggThe members of this Corps are fully engaged on essential duties and it is unlikely that it will be possible to permit them to volunteer for harvesting.
§ Mr. BartlettIs it not a fact that whereas some of them have been allowed to volunteer, for example, for paratroop ambulance work, and so on, a great many of them are doing perfectly useless jobs such s road making, which could not possibly compare with the requirements of agriculture at the time of the harvest?
§ Sir J. GriggI would be very surprised to hear that any of them were, at this particular juncture, employed on perfectly useless jobs.
§ Sir Waldron SmithersCould the right hon. Gentleman give some discretion to commanding officers in country districts, if a few men are available at busy times, to allow them to work on farms?
§ Sir J. GriggI do not necessarily debar this altogether; but I said that it is, I am afraid, unlikely that it will be possible.