§ Mr. OUTHWAITEasked the Under-Secretary of State for War whether he will take into consideration the case of F. H. Wildblood, of 120, High Lane, Burslem, who, having conscientious objections to combatant service, was induced by the recruiting officer to attest on the assurance that steps would be taken to pass him into the Royal Army Medical Corps, and whose attestation form was marked "Royal Army Medical Corps"; and, in view of the fact that he has now been informed by the honorary secretary of the recruiting committee that he will only be placed in the Royal Army Medical Corps if there are vacancies, and that as he has voluntarily attested he is not entitled to claim on the ground of conscientious objection, and as he is liable for military service on 18th March, will immediate consideration be given to his case?
§ Mr. TENNANTNo guarantee that a man will be put into the Royal Army Medical Corps has been given, and the marking of an attestation form only amounts to a record of the preference expressed. As I have already stated, a man who voluntarily attests isprimâ facie not a conscientious objector.
§ Mr. TREVELYANasked the President of the Local Government Board whether a man whose claim as a conscientious objector has never been heard but who is granted exemption for indispensable national service, such as railway work, if he subsequently leaves that work, is entitled to have his claim as a conscientious objector considered as of right, or must he refuse his conditional exemption in order to have his claim as a conscientous objector considered?
1903W
§ Mr. LONGIt is open to a man under the Military Service Act to whom a certificate of exemption has been granted to apply for a renewal or variation of his certificate, if the circumstances warrant such an application.
§ Mr. OUTHWAITEasked the President of the Local Government Board whether he will inquire into a statement made by the father of an applicant for exemption before the Hammersmith Tribunal on the 7th instant that the chairman said to a fellow councillor that he had had enough of these conscientious objections, and that they should all be served alike; will he state if any total exemptions on conscientious grounds have been granted by this tribunal; and, if so, how many?
§ Mr. LONGI cannot undertake to inquire into the remark alleged to have been made. So far as my information goes, no absolute exemptions on the ground of conscientious objection have been granted by the Hammersmith Tribunal.
§ Mr. SNOWDENasked the President of the Local Government Board what action the proposes to take upon the conduct of the members of the Foleshill local tribunal who, on 6th March, after refusing the claim of a schoolmaster for exemption on conscientious grounds without discussion, proceeded to pass a resolution that the clerk be instructed to write to the man's employers informing them that they did not consider that a man holding such views was a proper person to be put in charge of schools and to teach the youth of the country, and that after one member had remarked that such men ought not to be in England it was decided to send a copy .of the resolution to the local managers of the school as well as to the education authority; and, having regard to his instructions to local tribunals that they should exercise their functions in a fair and judicial spirit and in such a manner as will give the conscientious objector confidence of receiving fair treatment, will he say what action he proposes to take?
§ Mr. LONGI am in correspondence with the local tribunal in this case and will communicate with the hon. Member later.