HC Deb 29 July 1918 vol 109 cc59-60W
Sir WILLIAM BULL

asked the Under-Secretary of State for War whether the men who joined the Divisional Engineers of the Royal Naval Division on the first formation of that corps have since been brought in whole or in part under the control of the War Office by transference to the Royal Engineers; if he is aware that these men were, at least in the case of such of them as were recruited at the buildings of the Institute of Electrical Engineers, enlisted under an undertaking which provided that they should serve for three years or for the duration of the War, whichever period should prove to be the shorter; whether any variations of the conditions of service of these men were made at the time of their transference to the Royal Engineers; if so, when and by whose authority, and were the men notified of the change; whether the men enlisted in the above-specified conditions will be granted their discharge from the Army on the termination of their fourth year of service; and, if so, whether, in the event of the War being still then in progress, these men will receive a month's re-engagement furlough, in accordance with the practice prevailing in respect of other branches of the Service?

Mr. MACPHERSON

I regret that I am not in a position to answer my hon. Friend's question to-day, but I will write to him as soon as possible.