§ Mr. OUTHWAITEasked the Secretary of State for War whether his attention has been drawn to the fact that Samuel Robert William Ball and Frederick Setterfield, constables of the D Division of the Metropolitan Police, were dismissed on 16th November for attempting to induce members of the police force to join a union and that these men have been called upon to report themselves under the Military Service Act on 5th December; and will he take steps to secure that no action is taken against these men by the military authorities before this House has had an opportunity to consider the question of their reinstatement by an amendment of the regulation which debars the police from exercising rights established in the case of other Civil servants?
§ Mr. LLOYD GEORGEThe general question of combination among the police was discussed in this House on the 17th June, 1915. In these circumstances I see no reason to interfere with the operation of the Military Service Acts.