§ Sir STUART COATSasked the Undersecretary of State for War whether Charles Ruddick will now be given a warrant for a return ticket to Ipswich; and whether he has been summoned for re-examination under the Military Service (Review of Exceptions) Act, 1917, on 9th instant, Ruddick's permanent address being at 21, Grosvenor Road, London, S.W.I?
§ Mr. MACPHERSONIn view of my hon. Friend's statement as to the permanent address of Charles Ruddick, arrangements are being made to have him re-examined in London. It will, therefore, be unnecessary for the man to travel to Ipswich.
§ Mr. NIELDasked the Under-Secretary of State for War whether the undertaking given to the effect that every soldier who is disabled by wounds or discharged from sickness or ill-health abroad will be excepted from the Military Service (Review of Exceptions) Act, 1917, extends to men who have been disabled or discharged on account of wounds, sickness, or ill-health during active service abroad in the Army prior to the present War or whether it is limited to the present War?
§ Mr. MACPHERSONThe instructions issued to recruiting officers on the 22nd June to the effect that no discharged man who had served overseas in the armed forces of the Crown was to be compulsorily posted for service under the Military Service (Review of Exceptions) Act, 1917, are not confined to men who have served overseas in the present War.
§ Mr. NIELDasked the Under-Secretary of State for War whether, having regard to the fact that the powers of the Army Council, under the Military Service (Review of Exceptions) Act, 1917, to serve notice requiring a man to present himself for examination are, by Section 1 (1), limited to a member of the Territorial force who is, in the opinion of the Army Council, not suited for foreign service, 1309W and to a man who has left or been discharged from the naval or military service of the Crown in consequence of disablement or ill-health including an officer who has ceased to hold a commission in consequence of disablement or ill-health, and to a man who has been previously rejected on any ground, either after offering himself for enlistment or after becoming subject to the Military Service Acts, 1916, he contends that it is competent for the Army Council to serve a notice under that Act upon a voluntarily attested man who has been rejected but not treated as discharged, and, therefore, remaining in the Reserve and not subject to the Military Service Acts; and, if not, whether he will take the necessary steps to amend Army Council Instruction No. 640, paragraph 20 of which purports to authorise the service of a notice under the Act on a voluntarily attested man who is a Reservist, and who, after being attested, has been rejected, but who has not been treated as discharged, so that he is brought within the provisions of the Military Service Acts, on the ground that the course suggested in the Instruction is not authorised by the Act?
§ Mr. MACPHERSONA man who is in the Army Reserve by virtue of voluntary attestation is liable to be called up for medical examination as a Reservist. Before the Military Service (Review of Exceptions) Act, 1917, was passed, it had been contended by some men in the position described by my hon. and learned Friend that they had been discharged from the Army Reserve by virtue of rejection on medical grounds, and while this contention was disposed of in a test case taken to the High Court the Instructions quoted were given in case the contention should be again raised. It makes little if any practical difference under what power a man is required to be re-examined. It will he observed, however, from the paragraph of the Army Council Instruction to which reference is made that it is expressly provided that the man can choose which procedure he prefers, and if he elects to be dealt with as an attested man who remains in the Reserve the Statutory Order sent to him under the Act is to be cancelled on his presenting himself for examination as a Reservist. The subsequent paragraph of the Army Council Instruction explains that in either case the man has all the grounds of application to a tribunal for exemption conferred by the Military Service Acts, 1916.