Mr. MURRAY MACDONALDasked the Secretary of State for War whether officers and men who were recommended as pivotal or on special grounds by the Ministry of Labour prior to 1st February are eligible for release from the Army even if they do not fulfil the conditions as to age and service set out in the Army Order about the Armies of Occupation which was published in the Press on 30th January; and, if so, whether officers and men are similarly eligible for release in whose case it can be shown, either that application for their release was made in the prescribed form and submitted to the Ministry of Labour some time prior to 1st February, although it appears that the Ministry of Labour have failed to recommend their release, or that, owing to the distance or 634W inaccessibility of their station, or to delays or mistakes in the post, they were, unable to forward forms of application for release to the Ministry of Labour before 1st February?
§ Mr. CHURCHILLThe answer to the first part of my right hon. Friend's question is in the affirmative, provided they were registered by the War Office as pivotal before the 1st of February, 1919, or that recommendations for their special release were received by the War Office from the Ministry of Labour before that date. The answer to the second part of the question is in the negative.