§ Mr. C. DUNCANasked the Secretary to the Admiralty whether workmen who have been transferred from the Royal dockyards in the south to the new base at Rosyth are to be medically examined with a view to their transfer to the Colours; whether he is aware that many of these men have broken up their homes, removed their families, and established new homes at Rosyth, with a maximum of inconvenience to themselves, in order to convenience the Admiralty; and whether, under these circumstances, any consideration is to be shown to these men whose families may be left hundreds of miles away from their original homes if these workmen are to be drafted into the fighting forces of the Crown?
§ Dr. MACNAMARAIt is not the practice in transferring men from the dockyards in the south to Rosyth to examine them medically with a view to their transfer to the Colours, and it is not proposed to set up any such practice. The 1021W question is, however, under consideration of releasing some of the workmen who have attested or who are liable for military service under the Military Service Acts from the dockyard at Rosyth for service with the Colours in cases where they are not indispensable; and it is not intended that men who have been transferred from the south shall necessarily be excluded from the purview in determining the particular men to be released. Some of such workmen who have been transferred from the Royal dockyards in the south will, therefore, probably be medically examined with a view to their transfer to the Colours. The Board are fully aware of the circumstances in which the men have been transferred to Rosyth; and in any cases in which men who have moved their homes and families to Rosyth are released for military service every consideration will be given to any request for assistance in meeting the cost of the removal of the men's homes and families back to the south.