§ 3. Mr. Boyd-Carpenterasked the Minister of Labour if he will make a statement as to the occupations which he intends to treat as reserved occupations for the purpose of the recall of Reservists and in an emergency.
§ 10. Mr. A. R. W. Lowasked the Minister of Labour what are the occupations in which men will be reserved for industry in the event of general mobilisation, referred to in paragraph 5 of Command Paper 8146.
§ Mr. BevanThese lists are at present purely provisional and subject to change from time to time. Consultation on them with the two sides of industry is about to begin, and they could not at this stage usefully be published. On security grounds it is desirable not to publish them earlier than necessary.
§ Mr. Boyd-Carpenteris it the right hon. Gentleman's intention to publish them before their effect indirectly becomes apparent owing to the selection of men for call up as Z reservists this summer?
§ Mr. BevanNo. The hon. Member's Question refers to "an emergency" and it would not be desirable to let a potential enemy know the sort of occupations which are at the moment restricted.
§ Mr. LowDoes the right hon. Gentleman agree that there is on the other side of the balance sheet, as it were, an enormous advantage to be gained by cer- 1907 tainty in this matter both from the points of view of the person concerned and of his own Department? The Service Departments may be guilty of counting men twice unless they know whether they are reserved or not.
§ Mr. BevanI think it is desirable, where we can speak about broad reservations, to give information as early as possible, and I will do that. But I think Members on all sides of the House will agree that there are some special kinds of reservations which it would not be desirable to publish.
4. Mr. Macdonaldasked the Minister of Labour whether he will give an assurance that in occupations where there will be a selective call-up, Class Z reservists will, wherever possible, be given the opportunity of deferred positions in preference to those persons who were in these positions during the last war.
Mr. MacdonaldWhy would it be impracticable in the case of certain reserved occupations in which there may be surplus manpower at present? If any have to go can it not be those who were able to dodge the last war?
§ Mr. BevanThe hon. Member seems to have forgotten the purpose of the exercise which is about to be undertaken. It is to refresh the training of those who have already been trained.
§ Mr. Emrys HughesCould the Minister explain what is the position of Members of Parliament who are in the Z Reserve?
§ Mr. BevanThat is entirely another question, but as I took part in a controversy on this matter during the late war I think I can inform my hon. Friend that His Majesty's commands take precedence over everything else.
8. Mr. Macdonaldasked the Minister of Labour whether he will give an assurance that all men who are now less than 50 years of age and were in reserved occupations during the last war will be vetted to see whether their present jobs are such as to leave them free to be amongst the first to be called up for active service, in place of some of the Class Z reservists.
Mr. MacdonaldApart from the present call up of Z reservists, if men are called up at a later period for a longer term, or if hostilities break out, could not this vetting take place?
§ Mr. BevanAs I said earlier, I would ask the hon. Member to bear in mind what is really being done. If he does he will then see that these Questions are not on the point at all.
§ Brigadier HeadWould the Minister bear in mind, nevertheless, that there are large numbers of skilled men in civil life, possibly not now in reserved occupations, whose occupation in civil life is closely similar to that which they could do in the Forces in war, and that special units of such men might represent a big saving of manpower, and be of great value to the Forces?
§ Mr. BevanThey would also be a loss to their industrial occupation. We have to consider and balance the requirements of the Services and of civil occupations. It would be no use calling up men for the Services who would not have arms, because we would not have men in civil occupations to make them.
§ Mr. SnowIs not this extraordinarily high rate of medical exemption proof positive of the rotten nutritional standards under the Tory Government before the war?