ARMY AND AIR FORCE (ANNUAL) BILL. (Hansard, 17 April 1934)

§ THE UNDER-SECRETARY OF STATE FOR WAR (LORD STRATHCONA AND MOUNT ROYAL)

My Lords, in moving the Second Reading of this Bill I need not detain your Lordships long because there are in it this year only two amendments of importance, and the details of the amendments have been set out in the Memorandum accompanying the Bill. The first one (Clause 4) simplifies the details of administration regarding Courts-Martial when necessary on troopships. The point emerged as the result of a case which occurred when a troopship was on its way from Southampton to Malaya, and a Court-Martial was required to deal at once with a soldier who embarked when the ship called at Ceylon.

The present procedure is as follows: At a port of embarkation the officer who is to be in command of troops on board during the voyage receives a warrant authorising him to convene and confirm a district Court-Martial for the trial of any offence committed by persons under his command on board the ship. This warrant, however, only covers the troops 626 who embark at the original port of departure, and if other troops join at an intermediate port an additional warrant in respect of them must be issued to the officer commanding troops on board by the officer in command at that port. Thus a vessel taking troops from England to the East may pick up details at several intermediate ports, and the issuing of warrants in identical words at all of them and the ultimate returning of each warrant to the issuer entails a lot of unnecessary clerical work. Under the present procedure there is a possibility that the necessity for the issue of a warrant at an intermediate port may be overlooked, with the consequence that a man might be tried by a Court improperly convened and the proceedings might have to be quashed subsequently. Accordingly, the amendment proposed will enable a warrant to be issued to the commanding officer which will cover all troops who may be under his command during the voyage whether they embark with him or join at some port of call.

The second amendment (Clause 7) makes provision for regulating the relations between members of the new Indian Air Force, created last year, and members of the military forces in India when doing duty at the same station, or otherwise serving together. The proposed new clause deals with this point on lines similar to those of Section 184A of the Army Act which governs the relations 627 between military, naval and air forces when acting together. The Air Force Act was amended last year to make provision for the relations between the Royal Air Force and the Indian Air Force. Now this clause provides that when a unit of the Indian Air Force is serving side by side with an Army unit on the same station the officers, warrant officers and non-commissioned officers of the two Forces may, if desirable, be given mutual powers of command but not mutual powers of punishment. The actual powers to be given in any particular case will be laid down in Regulations to be settled between the Government of India and the Army Council, and will be limited to the practical needs of the case. The Regulations at present proposed to be made under this clause are designed solely to 628 enable station duties to be satisfactorily performed, and they will only operate if officers are expressly ordered by the officer commanding the station to carry out such duties. In other respects the Bill follows the normal course annually prescribed and presented to your Lordships, and does not therefore call for any special comment. In those circumstances I trust your Lordships will now give it a Second Reading.