HC Deb 07 June 1917 vol 94 c360W
Colonel ORDE-POWLETT

asked the Financial Secretary to the War Office if he is aware that surveyors of local authorities, who have volunteered at the request of the Road Board for work in connection with military road-making in France, have been compelled to pay their own railway fares to London when attending at the request of the Director-General of Military Railways for interview and for medical examination, and again when attending to report at the War Office previously to a commission being granted to them; whether he is aware that in one such case a married man with a child, earning a salary of £175, had to pay over £4 in railway fares irrespective of personal expenses; and whether he will issue instructions that such railway fares, the paying of which by those who volunteer for service is considered a hardship, be refunded?

Mr. FORSTER

In accordance with the general rule of the public service, candidates for commissions pay their own fares for interviews and on first joining.