§ Mr. Grovesasked the Secretary of State for War whether he is aware that the medical equipment provided for Home Guard battalions contains no cotton wool, no substance out of which antiseptic lotions can be made, no vaseline, although this is officially approved for burns of the face and hands, no morphia or other sedative, no adhesive plaster or safety pins, and no splint long enough for the immobilisation of a fracture of the leg; and whether he will take steps to see that the medical stores supplied are not less than those provided for regimental aid-posts?
§ Captain MargessonThe Home Guard medical organisation is framed to fit in with the existing system of military and civil medical facilities. In view of the wide dispersion of sub-units of the Home Guard it is seldom practicable to adopt the system of an infantry battalion with a regimental aid post, and the normal practice is to establish sub-unit aid posts at which casualties will be collected for evacuation to the nearest field aid post or hospital, civil or military, which will have all items of medical equipment necessary for first aid. Medical equipment has been provided for the sub-unit aid posts on a scale that is considered sufficient to meet the requirements of their limited role.
§ Mr. Snaddenasked the Secretary of State for War whether, in view of the commissioning of officers of the Home Guard, he will now grant to those officers the same privileges in regard to first-class travelling warrants as those enjoyed by offices of the Regular Army?
§ Captain MargessonNo, Sir. It is an accepted principle in the Home Guard that no distinction is made between officers and other ranks as regards financial privileges.
Major Beaumontasked the Secretary of State for War what are the powers that can be exercised by members of factory Home Guard units in the protection of their factories; and whether, when on duty in these factories as Home Guardsmen, they are at all times possessed of the same powers of arrest, search and detainment, 498W as are possessed by the civil police, and as are extended to members of the Armed Forces by Section 88 (c) of Defence Regulations?
§ Captain MargessonMembers of the Home Guard are members of the Armed Forces of the Crown. When on duty and in uniform, therefore, they have, for the purposes of carrying out their duty, the same powers as those extended to members of His Majesty's Forces by Defence Regulation 88c. The Home Guard has, of course, no duties in connection with factory disputes. The duty of the Home Guard in factories is to protect the factory against enemy action which may take the form of sabotage or of direct attack.