§ Captain WRIGHTasked the Minister of National Service whether the agreement made last June, which provided that no man was to be recruited from agriculture if given a voucher in England and Wales by the agricultural executive committees, or in Scotland by the Board of Agriculture for Scotland, certifying that he was employed on a farm on farm work of national importance, and so employed on 1st June, 1917, is to be abrogated under the Military Service Bill, and all certificates of exemption given under the said agreement cancelled; if so, are the authorities mentioned to continue to give such certificates or to review those already given; and whether he will issue instructions in conjunction with the Board of Agriculture, whose representatives they are, to the authorities mentioned?
§ Mr. BECKThe agreement made in July, 1917, to which the hon. Member refers, is still in operation, and vouchers of protection from military service are being issued in appropriate cases by agricultural executive committees in England and Wales and by the Board of Agriculture in Scotland. The issue of these vouchers is an administrative act, quite distinct from the grant of certificates of exemption by the tr[...]burials. It is, therefore, not affected by the Military Service Bill, which deals with certificates of exemption.