§ Mr. IRVINGasked the Secretary of State for War whether he has received a resolution passed by the magistrates for the county borough of Burnley to the effect that, having regard to the hardship imposed upon poor women who are compelled to take proceedings against soldiers or sailors for the maintenance of themselves or children, the justices of this county borough respectfully suggest to the Secretary of State for the Home Department that the law should be amended so as to relieve women of the obligation to pay the railway fares and expenses of soldiers and sailors to enable them to attend the hearing of the cases, as provided by the Army Act, 1881, and the Naval Discipline (No. 2) Act, 1915; and whether he will favourably consider taking action in the direction recommended?
§ Mr. CHURCHILLI cannot trace the receipt of a resolution from the particular magistrates referred to, but a copy of a similar resolution passed by the Cardiff justices has been sent to the War Office by my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Home Affairs. The matter has been fully considered, and while I quite 1413W realise the hardship of the present rule in certain cases, I do not think any case has been made out for dispensing with it in the manner suggested so far as the Army is concerned.