71. Mr. B. Whiteasked the Secretary of State for War if he is aware that the wife of an Army officer, whose name has been communicated to him by the hon. Member for Canterbury, who had been granted a summons for maintenance against her husband, applied to his Department for his last known address but was refused this information on the ground that he was a commissioned officer; and what steps will be taken to ensure that when a wife of an officer is granted a summons for maintenance and the police are unable to trace the whereabouts of the officer concerned, she will receive the cooperation of the military authorities.
§ Mr. Bellenger:It is contrary to the practice of the War Office to disclose the addresses of members or ex-members of the Army to their wives, but in order to facilitate maintenance proceedings it is the practice to disclose last recorded addresses to solicitors, the police or the Clerk of the Court to enable proceedings to be instituted or legal process to be served. This is the answer which should have been given to Mrs. Barlow, and I very much regret that she was apparently given incorrect information.