HC Deb 17 February 1955 vol 537 cc665-6

Motion made, and Question proposed, That the Clause stand part of the Bill.

Mr. Emrys Hughes

I should like an explanation on subsection (2), which relates to Any person who purchases or takes in pawn any naval, military or air-force decoration. … Surely, we should have some reason for the insertion of these words in the Bill. Do soldiers and airmen really pawn their decorations, and to what extent? Does the pawning of decorations take place on such a scale as requires the insertion of a special subsection in an Act of Parliament?

Mr. Head

There is, and always has been, a considerable market in medals. Nobody responsible where the Services are concerned has ever raised any objection when the holders of the medals are dead, but as far as members of Her Majesty's Forces are concerned, we wish in every way to remove every temptation to a man to sell or even to pawn his medals, of which most soldiers are extremely proud. If there were a ready market in these things and temptation were put in a man's way to sell off all his medals, we believe that that would be a bad and wrong thing. This provision is included in the Bill to discourage those who traffic in medals and to prevent any attempt to make men sell or pawn their medals.

Mr. Simmons

Surely, some hon. Members can allow their recollections to go back as far as the end of the 1914–18 war, when the pawnshops were full of the medals of men who came out of the Forces at the end of that war and who went almost straight into the unemployment queue.

Mr. Head

The hon. Member is under a misapprehension. The subsection refers only to members of Her Majesty's Forces and not to those who have left the Forces.

Mr. Simmons

It says: Any person who purchases or takes in pawn any naval, military or air-force decoration awarded to any member of Her Majesty's military forces… These men were members of the Forces when the medals were awarded to them. At the end of the First World War there was an hon. Member representing a Birmingham constituency—

Mr. Head

I am sorry to interrupt the hon. Member, but he is under a misapprehension. The closing words of Clause 197 (2) are: … the person to whom the decoration was awarded was dead or had ceased to be a member of those forces. I think that that meets the point. Question put and agreed to.

Clause ordered to stand part of the Bill.

Clauses 198 to 204 ordered to stand part of the Bill.