HC Deb 24 January 1918 vol 101 cc1174-5W
Sir F. BLAKE

asked the Under-Secretary of State for War whether, in cases where relatives and friends of sick or wounded soldiers who have been sent a free pass to enable them to see men who are seriously and dangerously ill, and who are unable from lack of means to maintain themselves, he will authorise hospital authorities to make arrangements for providing board and lodging at the public expense for such limited period as may seem to be desirable?

Mr. FORSTER

This duty has been discharged, I am glad to say, by voluntary agencies both in France and in this country, and I should be sorry to see such agencies replaced by the necessarily rigid machinery of a public Department disbursing public funds.