§ 29. Mr. Swinglerasked the Minister of Labour on how many occasions Trevor Tooth, of Bignall End Cottage, Bignall End, Stoke-on-Trent, has been prosecuted for failing to appear for medical examination for the Armed Forces; and what penalties have been imposed.
§ Sir W. MoncktonThree times. Fines of £5, £20 and £30, respectively, were imposed.
§ Mr. SwinglerIs the Minister aware that those who know this young man well, sincerely believe that he is a genuine conscientious objector and regard it as a grave error that he was struck off the conscientious objectors' register? Will the 820 Minister find some means of reconsidering this case, and will he say what limit there is to carrying on the summoning and penalising of a young man who is sincerely determined not to participate in military service?
§ Sir W. MoncktonThe policy in this matter has not changed. I must say that there is great difficulty if the man has, as he has in this case, taken the appropriate steps to go to the tribunal and the appellate tribunal and has failed. When the statute has given him an opportunity and he has failed, I cannot regard him as exempt. I can only say that if he undergoes medical examination as required under the Act he will have an opportunity of presenting his case for exceptional hardship. I have no power to do more than that.
§ Brigadier MedlicottWould this young man, in other circumstances, be supported if he decided to exercise a conscientious objection against coming out on strike?
§ 30. Mr. Yatesasked the Minister of Labour why National Service man 22872618 Private Godfrey Rudge, Birmingham, was graded Al, having had perforated ears from childhood.
§ Sir W. MoncktonThe National Service medical board was aware of Mr. Rudge's condition but he informed the board that he had not had any discharge for some years. Nevertheless, the chairman of the National Service medical board, before placing Mr. Rudge in Medical Grade 1, referred him to a consultant aurist who reported that the man's ear drums, though scarred, were intact and that there was no active disease present.
§ Mr. YatesIs the Minister aware that in spite of that, if that did happen, this man was sent to Egypt within four months and had to be invalided back to this country due to perforated ears? Surely there must be something wrong. Will the Minister make sure that a most adequate examination is made, because there is great public disquiet in Birmingham about these cases?
§ Sir W. MoncktonI can only say that this was a case in which the board did the proper thing in consulting an aurist, and the grading of this man was confirmed by 821 two subsequent Army medical examinations. If what the hon. Gentleman says has happened, I am sorry to hear it, but I cannot blame the medical board, and the matter is no longer within my jurisdiction.