§ Mr. JOWETTasked the Secretary of State for War whether he has invited attested married men in Groups 44 to 46 to offer themselves for special war-service work and, if so, how many and at what rate of pay; and whether, in confining his invitation to attested married men, he has considered the position of those unattested married men whose sole reason for not attesting was that in joining the Army they would expose their families to serious distress by reason of the impossibility of maintaining their families on the pay and separation allowance to which they would become entitled as soldiers?
§ Mr. FORSTERYes, Sir; about 1,200 men have been taken for special War Office work at rates of 8½ and 9½ d. per hour, and they have been selected from amongst the later married groups, which were selected as including the most suitable men. To have considered the men mentioned in the last part of the question would have involved an excessive amount of investigation and consideration of individual cases, if entirely equitable treatment were to be secured.