§ Captain Bairdasked the Secretary of State for War how many soldiers are at present serving sentences for desertion in face of the enemy; and how many are serving sentences for other service crimes.
§ Mr. LawsonI regret that this information is not readily available and could not be obtained without a great deal of research into individual records at home and abroad, involving the expenditure of considerable time and labour. The normal statistics do not distinguish between cases of desertion in face of the enemy and other cases of desertion; nor do they distinguish between convictions for service crimes and convictions for civil offences by courts martial. My hon. and gallant Friend may, however, like to look at the information I gave on this subject in reply to a Debate on the Adjournment on 28th November, 1945.