HC Deb 30 July 1946 vol 426 cc136-8W
79. Mr. Dumpleton

asked the Secretary of State for War whether he has yet received the report of the court of inquiry which has been investigating the circumstances which led to the arrest of 250 men of the 13th Parachute Battalion in Malaya; and whether he will make a statement.

86. Mr. H. D. Hughes

asked the Secretary of State for War if he will make available to the House at the earliest opportunity the findings of the two courts of inquiry into the cause of arrest of 260 members of the 13th Parachute Battalion, 6th Airborne Division, at Muer, near Kuala Lumpur, on 14th May.

90. Mr. H. Fraser

asked the Secretary of State for War whether he will now make a statement regarding the mutiny of the 13th Battalion, Parachute Regiment, in Malaya; why officers of this battalion are still in command of those other ranks confined in a detention camp awaiting trial; and whether he will see that a more normal procedure is adopted.

92. Mr. Awbery

asked the Secretary of State for War if he will publish the results of the investigations now being made into the circumstances which led to court-martial proceedings being taken against the 265 now under close arrest in Malaya.

106. Captain Gunter

asked the Secretary of State for War if he has considered the correspondence sent him by the hon. and gallant Member for South-East Essex referring to the placing under close arrest of 265 British soldiers at a military camp in Malaya; how long these men have been under close arrest; what charge is to be preferred against them; and when the field general court-martial is to take place.

112. Mr. Driberg

asked the Secretary of State for War if he is aware that some 260 men of the 13th Parachute Regiment, S.E.A.C, who were arrested on or about 14th May, were detained in conditions of acute overcrowding in nine rooms for 10 days after their arrest and are still awaiting court martial; and what action he is taking against the officers and the regimental sergeant-major whose excessive disciplinary requirements, in climatic circumstances which made their fulfilment impossible, provoked the incident that led to these arrests.

Mr. Lawson

Full and thorough inquiries into this incident have been made. I regret, however, that the proceedings have not yet reached me from Malaya and I have little to add to the reply I gave to my hon. Friends the Members for Aston (Major Wyatt) and Central Bristol (Mr. Awbery) last Tuesday. The men concerned are under arrest and they will be tried by court martial in a few days' time. They are in a tented camp and I had not heard before that the accommodation was bad or seriously overcrowded. I am enquiring into this.

Mr. Asterley Jones

asked the Secretary of State for War whether he has any statement to make regarding grievances among the men. of the 13th Battalion, Parachute Regiment, S.E.A.C, as a result of which 265 of them ceased work and are now awaiting courts martial for mutiny; and whether he will give instructions that the grievances shall be investigated before the courts martial take place.

Mr. Lennox-Boyd

asked the Secretary of State for War whether he has any information regarding the reported mass detention of 200 men of the 13th Battalion, Parachute Regiment, who refused to go on parade as a protest against bad living conditions in camp at Muar, Malaya, and have been held in close arrest for five weeks without trial.

Mr. Lawson

I would refer the hon. Members to the reply I gave today in answer to Questions by several hon. Members on this subject.