asked the Chief Secretary for Ireland whether he is aware of the discouragement to recruiting that continues to exist in the larger towns of Ireland owing to the presence of numbers of non-Irish, both Britishers and aliens, of military age who are evading military service by taking refuge in Ireland; is he aware that, without the active co-opera- tion of the Irish Government, it is impossible for the military authorities to deal with this scandal; and what measures does he propose to take?

I would refer the hon. and gallant Member to the answer given by the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of National Service to a question by the hon. Member for the College Division of Glasgow yesterday.

asked the Home Secretary whether his attention has been called to the report of a medical examiner of recruits to the effect that a very considerable proportion of the thousands of Russian and Polish men examined by him for the Army were found to be suffering from tuberculosis, trachoma, and the hidden plague; whether he can say why the Port sanitary authorities allowed these men to land; and, as these men are eating our food and spreading disease, he will have them sent back to their native countries on the first possible opportunity?

The answer to the first part of the question is in the negative. The rest of the question, therefore, does not arise. But I may point out to the hon. and gallant Member that a large proportion of the men referred to came here before the passing of the Aliens Act, 1905, which gave the power to refuse aliens admission to this country.

Is the hon. Gentleman going to do nothing about these aliens who are diseased? Are they not going to besent back to their own country, or are they to be left here to eat our food and make our people ill?

As they came before 1905 I imagine we shall take no action in the matter, but if the hon. Gentleman puts down a question I will make further inquiries.

asked the Minister of National Service, whether men of forty-one, of military age and military fitness. are permitted exemption on the ground of repairing fences, working the electric light installation of a mansion house, looking after the gravitation water, and cutting timber for the same; and whether discharged soldiers have been found unfit for these posts?

Any exemptions of the kind indicated by the hon. Member must have been granted by a tribunal. If the hon. Member produces specific cases of alleged improper exemption, they will be inquired into.

May we take it from what the hon. Gentleman has said that if such a case as this exists, it is traceable to undue influence with the tribunal?

I did not say that.

asked the Minister of National Service whether he will cause inquiries to be made into the case of J. S. Ball, of Bethnal Green, stated to have been previously rejected on several occasions from military service on grounds of ill-health; and whether he was kept for four hours quite naked, in bitter weather, although suffering from serious heart complaint, put through severe exercises and badgered until quite exhausted, returned home unable to eat or drink, and had to be put to bed, and died on 30th January?

Inquiries are being made into this case, and I will inform the hon. Member of the result.

asked the President of the Local Government Board if he will issue instructions to the military and police authorities informing them that Irishmen temporarily resident in Great Britain are under no liability to register under the new Act; if he is aware that they were not liable to register under the old Act, and that there are no words in any Clause or Section of the new Act referring to Irishmen; and if, in order to prevent Irishmen being victimised by Police Court magistrates, he will now definitely define the position of Irishmen?

My right hon. Friend is not empowered to issue instructions to the authorities referred to in the question. As regards the position of Irishmen under the National Registration Acts, I do not think I can usefully add anything to my reply to the hon. Member's question on the 28th ultimo.

Is the hon. Gentleman aware that in his answers he has stated that the matter was one for a Court of law? Is he aware that a number of these men at the present moment are being brought before Courts of justice and handed over to the military authorities, and that in one of the cases in which a reply was given a man who was in England only seven weeks was handed over to the military as an absentee, and will he give some definite assurance that these men will not be conscripted?

I cannot give any definite assurance of the kind, but as the hon. Gentleman will be aware no prosecution can take place at all under the National Registration Act without the consent of the Minister of National Service, and I am quite sure that every case will be properly attended to. I have given my own opinion last week. I can add nothing more.

Is the hon. Gentleman aware that since 1915 upwards of 50,000 Irishmen were sent for to come to this country and—

The hon. Member is now going into a question of figures.

asked the Postmaster-General whether he is aware that a person named Harry Harbage, employed in the Post Office Engineering Department at Derby as a linesman (established), with ten years' service, has recently been advised that his services from February, 1917, until the end of the War would not count for pension nor incremental purposes for the sole reason of his being exempted from military service under a certain Clause in the Military Service Act; whether he is aware that this man is a member of a religious body known as Christadelphians, and, as such, obtained exemption from military service conditionally upon engaging in work of national importance, and that the Pelham Committee decided that he could remain in his present employment and approved of the rate of pay; whether he has the requisite statutory power to alter the pay and conditions of service of an established Civil servant for a reason of this kind; how many servants of the Post Office have been penalised in the same way; and whether he will review the whole question with a view to the penalty being removed?

I am aware of the circumstances of this case. The service of persons who have obtained exemption from military service on conscientious grounds is disallowed for pension and incremental purposes under a decision of the Government, which is applicable to the whole Civil Service. About 100 Post Office servants have been dealt with under the decision, and I have no power to make exceptions to it or to alter it.

Does not this amount to a breach of contract on the part of the Post Office authorities?

I am advised not.