§ Sir Granville Gibsonasked the Postmaster-General to give a definite ruling on the question of whether Local Defence Volunteers' headquarters in all parts of the country are entitled to send out their official communications in envelopes carrying the stamp of the unit with the letters O.H.M.S. and without the use of postal revenue stamps?
§ Captain WaterhouseNo, Sir, they are not so entitled. I would refer my hon. Friend to the answer given on 19th June by my hon. Friend the Financial Secretary to the War Office to a Question asked by my hon. Friend the Member for Henley (Sir G. Fox).
§ Major Carverasked the Secretary of State for War whether he can now make any further statement with regard to the recruitment of a horsed section of the Local Defence Volunteers?
§ Sir E. GriggMounted detachments of Local Defence Volunteers are already formed or in process of formation where the conditions are appropriate.
§ Mr. Thurtleasked the Secretary of State for War whether he is aware that a man who won the Victoria Cross in the last war has been excluded from the Local Defence Volunteers on the ground that his parents were not British; and whether he will alter existing regulations in order that 601W ex-service men who can show a record of satisfactory service in the war of 1914–18 may be accepted for service in the Local Defence Volunteers, even though their parents were not British subjects?
§ Sir E. GriggI am aware of the case to which my hon. Friend refers, and I will consider the suggestion which he makes.
§ Mr. G. Straussasked the Secretary of State for War why Mr. J. E. Welsh, a local councillor of Gloucester City and agent of the local Labour Party, having four years' experience in the Territorial Army, was dismissed from the Local Defence Volunteers on the ground of his politics; and whether there is any political or social ban on the membership of this body?
§ Sir E. GriggI will make inquiries and will write to my hon. Friend as soon as I can.