HC Deb 20 November 1946 vol 430 cc123-4W
Lieut.-Commander Hutchison

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies if he will make a detailed statement with regard to the basis on which compensation pay is being granted to those who served in the Civil Defence Forces of Malaya and who were subsequently interned by the Japanese; and whether, in view of the fact that full pay in respect of their period of internment has been allowed to members of the permanent Civil Service in Malaya, he will take steps to ensure that similarly generous treatment is' given to those who served before the Japanese invasion as land transport officers or other officers of the Civil Defence organisation.

Mr. Creech Jones

Members of the Civil Defence Services of Malaya who were interned have been granted payment in full subject to the following limits and reservations:

  1. (a) A deduction of 10 per cent. on payments in excess of £1,250.
  2. (b) A general maximum of £1,500.
  3. (c) A maximum of three months' pay in the case of women not normally dependent on their own earnings.
  4. (d) A maximum of £300 in the case of members of certain units, including the Auxiliary Drivers Corps, who, though paid at a uniform rate of so dollars a day, had responsibilities comparable with those of a staff warden in the A.R.P. or a sergeant of the special constabulary, for both of which classes the accrued pay amounted to approximately £300.

All the limitations mentioned above are considered reasonable in the case of persons towards whom, in that they entered Government employment temporarily as members of the Civil Defence Services, the local Governments cannot be expected to undertake the fuller financial obligations which they have assumed towards their permanent staff.