§ Mr. T. GRIFFITHSasked the Under-Secretary of State for War whether, in view of the lapse of time since the Armistice, he will now favourably consider the granting of an amnesty to all men who deserted from the Army during the War?
Lieut.-Colonel GUINNESSI am not prepared to dispense altogether, by a general amnesty, with the right to try and punish men, in serious and special cases, for the grave military offence of desertion. The normal practice, however, has for long been to discharge the deserter without resorting to trial and without withdrawing him from his civil employment. I see no reason to vary this general policy, but I can undertake to consider sympathetically any particular case which does not appear to be covered by it.