HC Deb 09 March 1916 vol 80 cc1728-9W
Sir C. KINLOCH-COOKE

asked the Under-Secretary of State for War whether he is aware that thousands of men of military age have entered munitions factories with the object of escaping military service; and will he see that these men are given the opportunity to enlist before married men are taken?

Mr. TENNANT

The question of single men of military age who have entered munitions factories, not with the primary object of assisting the supply of munitions to the Army, but rather with the object of escaping military service, is receiving the careful consideration of the Government as a whole and of the Ministry of Munitions in particular. It would be impossible to give an undertaking that every single man in a munitions factory will be taken for military service before any married men are taken, but the Government is fully alive to the importance of the subject raised by the hon. Member.