§ Mr. RENDALLasked the Under-Secretary of State for War whether the 17th Gloucestershire Regiment stationed at Clacton-on-Sea were sent home on six days' leave on 10th December and told they were going to Ireland; whether the 513W medical board sat at Clacton on 14th December and these men returned on 16th December; whether they were then sent to France about the 22nd or 23rd December without medical examination; whether it is nearly four months since they were before a medical board, and many men sent were actually ill and included men ruptured and with heart disease; and were they sent abroad without the medical board's knowledge and contrary to Regulations?
§ Mr. MACPHERSONA draft of men in category B 1 was sent to France recently from this battalion for service compatible with that medical category. No man is drafted overseas unless the medical officer is satisfied that his physical state is up to that of his medical category; otherwise he is kept back pending the visit of a travelling medical board.