Lieut.-Colonel MALONEasked the Secretary of State for War whether he is aware that a lecture took place on 12th January at the Warncliffe Hill hospital, Sheffield, at which the Reverend E. Courtier-Forster delivered an address on anti-Bolshevism; whether he is aware that all officers and patients were ordered to parade for this lecture by the General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Northern Command; whether compulsory parades were inaugurated to enable serving units to hear the Bolshevik side of the case; whether these compulsory lectures are carried out at the instigation of the War Office; and whether the expense of these meetings is borne by the State?
§ Mr. CHURCHILLThe answer to the first part of the question is in the affirmative. It was not a lecture on anti-Bolshevism, but an account of the personal experiences of the Rev. R. Courtier-Forster in Russia. The War Office has not authorised and will not inaugurate compulsory attendance at general lectures. The lecture in question is only one of thousands which have been delivered to serving troops and patients in hospitals on hundreds of different subjects during the last two years, and which have been greatly appreciated by all ranks.