§ Mr. BENNETT-GOLDNEYasked the Secretary of State for War whether his attention has been drawn to the persecution of one of the recent witnesses called before the Air Inquiry Committee; and if any steps have been taken to reassure one of these witnesses from the Royal Aircraft Factory, Mr. Valentine, that in spite of what has happened he has nothing more to fear as a result of the disparaging re- 1222W marks made in his hearing, and in the hearing of others, when he returned to the Committee room for his papers, by Colonel O'Gorman, director of the factory, to Captain Green, to the effect that he, the witness, was known to be an adventurer?
§ Mr. FORSTERThe hon. Member has probably not seen the full answer I gave about this case yesterday to the hon. Member for North Kensington. I can assure him that Mr. Valentine has nothing to fear on account of his having given evidence.
§ Mr. BENNETT-GOLDNEYasked the Secretary of State for War whether, as the War Office itself set up the Air Committee to inquire into certain allegations made against the administration of the Air Services in this House, he will say if the recruiting officer concerned received an official or unofficial message from the War Office to issue a warrant for the arrest of one of the principal witnesses giving evidence before the Committee as an unattested man; and whether, as the hon. Member for East Herts had been medically examined and placed in a class for Home defence, he will give an assurance, so as to prevent any possible misunderstanding, that the question of issuing such a warrant at such a time was not intended in any way to prevent any evidence being given, but that it was purely a matter of indiscriminate routine?
§ Mr. FORSTERI cannot find that any warrant for the arrest of the hon. Member for East Herts was ever issued or contemplated. He was called up automatically, and any suggestion that there was any departure from the usual procedure or that there was any interference of any sort or kind by superior authority in this case, is without foundation. As a fact, what took place was, as the hon. Member suggests, "a matter of indiscriminate routine." The House, and also the hon. Member for East Herts, will, I am sure, agree in desiring that no discrimination should be made in this matter in favour of Members of the House.