On Monday and Tuesday the Military Service Bill was again
debated in the House of Commons. An important promise was made by Mr. Long on Monday that the tribunals should be instructed to exempt, under certain conditions, men who are the sole heads of businesses—such businesses as are " run " by one man with a family dependent upon him. Several critics wished Mr. Long's undertaking to be incorporated in the Bill, but the Government took the view—with which we agree—that instructions to the tribunals would sufficiently meet the case. On Tuesday the Government undertook that men should not be re-examined medically if their exemptions were -already recorded in documents held by the military authorities, and that a date should be fixed by which the Army Council must give notice to those who have to be examined afresh. The third reading of the Bill was carried by 250 votes to 35.
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