§ General CROFTasked the Food Controller whether the secretary of the Sugar Commission, who is of British origin, has been called up for military service; whether the manager and expert buyer, who is of German origin and has nine first cousins fighting in the German Army, has been exempted; and, if so, why this course of action has been adopted?
§ Major ASTORThe answer to the first part of the question is in the affirmative. The decision to call up for military service the secretary of the Sugar Commission was, as the Ministry of National Service are aware, contrary to the expressed views of the Commission. With regard to the second part of the question, the suggestion which it conveys is strongly to be deprecated. The manager, whose duties do not include the buying of sugar,1380W is of British birth and education. His father was born a Spanish subject and has been for over thirty years a naturalised Englishman. I am not aware that he has relatives fighting in the German Army, but I do know that he has relatives, fighting in the British Army, and that he himself has rendered and is rendering invaluable services to the Sugar Commission and to the nation. I would remind the hon. and gallant Gentleman that he raised this question at some length in this House in May of last year, and that the hon. Member for Wilton, who was then Parliamentary Secretary of the Ministry, gave the House the fullest particulars of this case, showing that the alleged suspicion was wholly without foundation.