ARMY AND AIR FORCE (ANNUAL) BILL. (Hansard, 18 April 1940)

§ THE UNDER-SECRETARY OF STATE FOR WAR (VISCOUNT COBHAM)

My Lords, in moving the Second Reading of this Bill, it is not necessary for me to explain to your Lordships the nature and object of the Bill, nor why it must become law by the end of this month. It contains, moreover, no changes of any great importance or of a controversial nature. Accordingly I shall not trouble the House with a lengthy statement unless your Lordships require a full explanation of the intricate points involved. The Preamble makes no reference to the numbers of the Forces which may be raised, but merely states "such number as His Majesty may deem necessary." Normally Amendments to the Army Act and Air Force Act contained in any Army and Air Force (Annual) Act come into force at home as from April 30 and abroad as from July 31. Clause 2 (2) provides that the Amendments contained in this Bill will operate everywhere as from April 30. This is particularly necessary in the case of Clause 3, which is to come into force on the same day as the legislation passed by Australia and New Zealand. The Amendments provided by Clauses 4 and 5 are also required to be effective in France as soon as possible.

157 The Amendment to Section 1870 of the Army Act and Air Force Act contained in Clause 3 is necessitated by the fact that the Commonwealth of Australia and the Dominion of New Zealand have recently enacted legislation (already enacted by Canada and South Africa) corresponding to the Visiting Forces (British Commonwealth) Act, 1933, which will come into force on April 30. The object of the Amendment is to put the Commonwealth of Australia and the Dominion of New Zealand, which have not adopted certain sections of the Statute of Westminster, in the same position as respects military and air force law as other Dominions to which those sections apply. Hitherto, by virtue of the present Section 187c, the Army Act and the Air Force Act have applied to these Dominions as they apply to a Colony. This means, first, that the military and air force law of the Dominion apply to the Dominion Forces outside the Dominion, which it would not otherwise do without the adoption of Section 3 of the Statute of Westminster. In the second place, it enables the Army Act and the Air Force Act to be enforced in the Dominion in relation to United Kingdom and Colonial Forces visiting the Dominion.

Subsection (1) of Clause 4, which amends Section 43 of the Army Act, will permit air officers—that is, R.A.F. officers of rank corresponding to that of brigadier or above—to deal with the complaints of soldiers serving under their command. This is necessary, for instance, in the case of the soldiers serving under the Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, British Air Forces in France, and those serving in Aden. At present, when a soldier is serving in a command in which the Commander is an Air Force officer, his complaint cannot be dealt with by such commander, and this may mean in some cases that the complaint is finally disposed of by a comparatively junior officer. Subsection (2) amends Section 68 of the Army Act so as to permit an R.A.F. officer to be prescribed as a "competent military authority" for the purposes of the provisions of the Act relating to the execution of sentences of penal servitude, imprisonment and detention. For instance, under Section 58 of the Act, when a soldier is sentenced to penal servitude on active service the "competent military authority" may order that part of the sentence up to two 158 years may be served in a military prison instead of a penal servitude prison. Subsection (3) amends subsection (2) of Section 183 of the Army Act so as to permit air officers—that is, R.A.F. officers of rank corresponding to that of brigadier or above—to reduce military N.C.Os. to the ranks or to any lower grade. It is necessary to make this provision for the Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, British Air Forces in France, and the Air Officer Commanding at Aden.

Clause 5 provides for corresponding Amendments to Sections 43 and 68 of the Air Force Act such as are contained in Clause 4, but provision is made for naval officers as well as Army officers to function. The purpose of Clause 6 can be briefly explained. There are various provisions in the Defence Regulations and other emergency enactments which amend the provisions of the Army Act and Air Force Act, but not by specific verbal Amendments which could be incorporated in these Acts. For instance, there is a Defence Regulation which provides, contrary to Section 95 of the Acts, that there shall be no limit to the number of aliens who may serve together at any one time in any corps or unit. It is necessary, in view of the provisions of Section 15 of the Army and Air Force (Annual) Bill, 1932, to ensure that the Army Act and Air Force Act shall be construed as though such Amendments were specifically incorporated in the reprints of the Acts. I beg to move that the Bill be now read a second time.