asked why Private E. Panther, No. 3777, Non-Combatant Corps, Shell Haven, Stanford-le-Hope, after training in his complete Non-Combatant Corps unit was transferred with three other non-combatants to a Regular Infantry regiment, where he has been subjected to harsh treatment by the sergeant and officers; and will he have this man returned at once to the Non-Combatant Corps unit?

I have called for a full report at once.

asked the Undersecretary of State for War if he will inquire into the conditions of labour at the docks in Dunkirk, where there are complaints from the men of the Labour battalions about their incessant work, having practically no rest, and also complaints about the insufficiency of the food?

I am afraid lean-not answer this without reference to the local military authorities. A report has been called for, and on its receipt I will write to my hon. Friend as soon as possible.

asked the Home Secretary if Mr. A. G. Melhuish, now in settlement at Princetown, can be transferred to the Army Optical Corps of the Royal Army Medical Corps, as he is by profession a dispensing optician?

Personnel of the Royal Army Medical Corps are liable at any time to be transferred to a combatant corps, and are enlisted for general service. This man could not be transferred to the Royal Army Medical Corps under any other conditions.

asked the Secretary for Scotland whether he is aware that Mr. John M'Killep, of 41, Ardenlea Street, Bridgeton, Glasgow, is an only son and the sole support of his parents, who are both permanently in- valided and unfit for work; that the local tribunal granted him conditional exemption on the ground of domestic hardship; that the Lanarkshire Appeal Tribunal on the 4th of June, on the appeal of the military representative, withdrew the exemption, although the sheriff, in announcing the decision, said that this was a case of hardship; whether domestic hardship is still a ground on which the tribunals may grant exemption; whether any instructions or advice have been issued to tribunals on this matter; and whether there has been any change in the practice of tribunals in granting exemption on this ground?

I have no information regarding the particular case referred to by my hon. and learned Friend. Serious hardship arising from the applicant's domestic position is a competent ground of exemption. Numerous instructions and circulars have been issued with reference to this matter. It is for the tribunals to determine in individual cases whether the degree of hardship is such as to justify exemption.

asked the Secretary for Scotland if he is aware that Councillor Dollan, a representative of the Govan Central Ward in the Glasgow Corporation, has been called up under the Military Service Act and is now in prison; that in consequence the Labour electors in the Govan Central Ward are disfran- chised in the city council; and, in view of suspensions of elections to municipal bodies, he will take steps to return. Councillor Dollan to his work as a, member of the Glasgow Corporation as being work of the highest national importance?

I am informed that Councillor Dollan has been called up for military service, and has been sentenced to imprisonment by court-martial for breach of military discipline. I have no power to interfere with the enforcement of his military obligations.

asked the Pensions Minister when he will be in a position to state whether the dependants of apprentices are to have their allowances placed upon the same basis; and whether such basis should be the wage-earning capacity of the lad at the time when application is made by the mother or other dependant for 'increased allowance and not simply hardship?

The matter referred to in my hon. Friend's question is, at the present moment, the subject' of consideration and discussion between the Minister of Pensions and the Statutory Committee, and my right hon. Friend hopes to be able to answer the hon. Member's question in a few days' time if he will repeat it.