§ Mr. Liddallasked the First Lord of the Admiralty what facilities are afforded to naval officers serving abroad who are desirous of pursuing Parliamentary candidatures to meet representative organisations in England.
Mr. AlexanderIt is not practicable, for bye-elections, to grant leave to officers serving abroad to enable them to meet representative organisations or attend selection committees in this country. For the forthcoming General Election I hope to be in a position to arrange for any officer who genuinely desires to pursue a Parliamentary candidature to be given an opportunity to attend before selection committees in this country provided he can be spared from his Naval duty. It must be recognised, however, that there can be no guarantee that passage facilities will be available from the distant stations.