Orders of the Day — Discharged Soldiers (Hospital Treatment)

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 31 May 1945.

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Photo of Mr Maurice Petherick Mr Maurice Petherick , Penryn and Falmouth 12:00, 31 May 1945

I hope that there will be no misunderstanding on the matter. As I say, it was not till 7·15 that I knew the date had been changed and that I had to come to the House. I arrived here at 7·30, and my hon. and gallant Friend who sits beside me was good enough to take a few notes. First, I should like to apologise on behalf of my right hon. Friend that he could not be here to take the Adjournment as he had intended. He had to go off almost at a moment's notice to a meeting and he deputed this rather difficult task to me.

It has been said during the course of this short Debate that the War Office is unfeeling and hard, and that it sometimes treats wounded soldiers unfairly when they are in hospital and discharges them too soon. I hope to be able to show within a very few minutes that that is not the case. I wonder whether, to start with, I might say something personal on the subject of the War Office. The hon. Member for Leigh (Mr. Tinker) said that he wished I had been on a back bench to-night, so that I might have joined in an attack on the War Office. I do not remember in the course of my career as a back bencher ever having had to make any sort of attack on the War Office. Obviously, in the early stages of the war, they had, as we all know, an immensely difficult task. If I did join in any attack, I hope I should be very careful in ascertaining the facts.

Honestly, I think the hon. Member for Ipswich has indulged in a little exaggeration, a fault which I have observed in him from time to time. I have only been in the War Office since Tuesday, but in the course of my duties there I have had to deal with and answer many hundreds of letters from hon. Members of this House. Far from all the replies being hard and negative, as some of the speeches to-night would lead one to expect, the situation was quite to the contrary. I was not only pleased but even a trifle surprised by the very great trouble which always appeared to be taken in difficult cases presented by hon. Members. Among the letters which I have read in these last three days the number in which satisfaction has been given has been really astounding. First, I would like to deal with one or two of the things mentioned by the hon. Member for Ipswich and of which my hon. and gallant Friend beside me took notes. He spoke of young soldiers in hospital, wounded, being discharged prematurely before their wounds were fully healed. It is very difficult to give a positive answer to a general allegation of that kind. I would suggest to the hon. Member that when cases are put to him he should first write to the War Office about them and give a full statement of each case when very careful consideration would 'be given to the matter.