§ 44. Mr. Osborneasked the Under-Secretary of State for Air if his attention has been called to the remarks of the chairman of the Louth magistrates' court on the lack of discipline among young airmen and the want of supervision by senior officers; and what steps he proposes to take to deal with this situation.
Mr. WardThe report I have seen gives the impression that the chairman's criticisms of Royal Air Force discipline were based upon a statement by one of the accused that he held a permanent pass which enabled him to be out of camp for the whole of every night. In point of fact, the pass held by the airman entitled him only to be out of camp until one a.m. I do not consider that the abuse of the privilege on this isolated occasion would justify an alteration in the rules governing the grant of such passes.
§ Mr. OsborneBut is my hon. Friend aware that this is not an isolated incident, and that the chairman of the local bench is a most responsible man who would not make such statements on an isolated case? Will my hon. Friend look into the matter again, please?
Mr. WardThis is the first case of a man appearing before a civil court from that R.A.F. station, certainly in the last 12 months. The discipline there is generally thought to be very good. I can only assume that when the chairman made these remarks he was not fully informed about the nature of the passes which were available to these men.