§ Mr. MACPHERSONasked the Secretary of State for War whether he is aware that, after their annual training, the left section Ross-shire Mountain Battery left Barry for Stornoway at 9.30 p.m. on the 25th July and reached Inverness at 6.30 a.m. on the 26th July; that there the corporal and two privates left the train, there being no order against it, to see relatives, and proceeded by the ordinary train to Kyle of Lochalsh, for Stornoway, an hour or two afterwards; that on arrival at Kyle of Lochalsh the officer commanding the Stornoway contingent, who was awaiting the train, took the corporal to a waiting-room and divested him of his stripes without even asking for an explanation; and whether, in view of the fact that there was no semblance of a trial before this 2675W peremptory action was taken and that local feeling on account of it has been aroused, he will have inquiries made and this action corrected?
§ Mr. TENNANTThe General Officer Commanding-in-Chief has informed the War Office that the original report submitted to him was too vague and had been returned for fuller details, that the noncommissioned officer in question deliberately left the train contrary to orders verbally given by the adjutant, that inquiry is still proceeding, but that the individuals concerned are difficult to communicate with.