§ Dr. Petersasked the Minister of Agriculture (1) whether he is aware that Guardsman T. C. Emmington was not permitted to state his case before the Cambridgeshire War Agricultural Executive Committee, either in person or by his solicitor, and that such committee at the time of its decisions was not aware of correspondence from its officials and expert advisers; and will he see that in all future cases a farmer shall have the opportunity of being heard before a county war agricultural committee, and the whole of the facts placed before such committee by the farmer concerned or his legal representative;
(2) what are the agricultural grounds upon which he does not feel justified in recommending release from the Army of Guardsman T. C. Emmington, now serving as a batman, who gave up farming in Huntingdonshire and took another farm in Cambridgeshire, having previously been granted indefinite release whilst farming in Huntingdonshire?
Mr. HudsonI take all relevant facts into account in deciding whether or not to recommend the release of a soldier from the Army on agricultural grounds, but oral evidence is not usually necessary in such cases. With regard to the case of Guardsman T. C. Emmington I have nothing to add to the reply which I gave to my hon. Friend on 25th November.