§ Mr. SPOORasked the Secretary of State for War whether, in connection with the decision to release conscientious objectors who have suffered imprisonment, he will give the precise meaning of the phrase two years' imprisonment in the aggregate; and whether a conscientious objector who had been sentenced to two years' imprisonment, but whose sentence was reduced on account of good conduct, would not be entitled to release?
§ Mr. CHURCHILLIn reply to a question of the hon. and gallant Member for Plaistow on the 3rd April, I stated that all soldiers who had been sentenced to imprisonment would be discharged from the Army for misconduct, and that if and when they had completed a total of two years' imprisonment in the aggregate in this country they would be released from prison. In view, however, of the fact that a soldier serving a continuous sentence of two years' imprisonment can by good conduct earn a remission of four months, this principle has been extended to soldiers in prison who have undergone previous sentences, and the aggregate of two years has therefore been reduced to twenty months.