§ Major HILLSasked the Secretary of State for War whether his attention has 1944W been called to the case of Richard Hobbs, late No. 9032, Sapper, Royal Engineers; whether he is aware that this man enlisted on 4th June, 1901, and re-engaged in 1913 for his sixteen years' service on condition that if mobilised he would receive the same rate of pay as he had had at the time of leaving the Service, namely, 3s. 1d. per day, though through an oversight at the Record Office his papers for the medical examination were not returned to him till 16th June, 1913, but that he was told by the recruiting officer that he would lose nothing by this and would be sworn in in accordance with Regulations; that Sapper Hobbs mobilised on 4th August, 1914, at Bulford Camp, Salisbury Plain, for Section D of the Army Reserve in the 57th Field Company, Royal Engineers, and that since that date, during which he was a prisoner of war for four years and four months, he has only received pay at the rate of 2s. 6d. a day, though the matter was under investigation before he was transported to France on 16th August, 1914; and whether he is entitled to the 7d. a day, the difference between 2s. 6d. and 3s. 1d., dating from 4th August, 1914, until his demobilisation?
§ Mr. FORSTERI am making inquiry, and will let the hon. and gallant Member know the result.