Clause 1. — (Power to Prolong Period of Naval, Military, or Air Force Service.)

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at on 25 March 1919.

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Photo of Mr Sydney Arnold Mr Sydney Arnold , Penistone

I wish to speak from the point of view of the employment of soldiers in substitution for civilians in labour disputes. We wish to lessen the power which military conscription has over industrial conscription. We had this question brought up in the Debates on the Military Service Acts in the last Parliament. I know that our contention was denied by the Government, and they promised Amendments and gave us pledges; but although you give pledges and promise Amendments till you are black in the face, military conscription will always involve a certain amount of industrial conscription. When this question was under discussion in the House the Leader of the House said, in relation to industrial conscription: This Bill does not give a shadow of industrial conscription. All through the War such a thing never arose, and in any case this Bill does not give one iota of power for that purpose, and it is a shadow they are afraid of. Surely the Leader of the House forgets what has happened during the War. It cannot be denied that the engineers' strike last year was broken down by means of the Military Service Act, because the men were threatened that unless they returned to work they would be taken into the Army. Again, in the recent railway strike soldiers were used to run the trains, and therefore in both those cases there was industrial conscription. If the Government is sincere in this matter, and the words of the Leader of the House hold good, the Secretary of State for War ought to accept this Amendment, because without this Amendment the position will not be safeguarded. This Bill is put forward for military purposes, in order to obtain an Army of Occupation to garrison Egypt, Malta, Mesopotamia, and so forth, and it is not put forward for any Labour purpose, or to give the Government any additional power in industrial disputes. Therefore, it is not right that the Government should have power by means of this Bill to intervene in industrial disputes. As has already been pointed out, unless an Amendment like this is accepted, power is given to the Government in two ways: First, by employing soldiers in industrial work, as was done in the recent railway dispute; and, secondly, by mobilising; strikers and compelling them to do work as soldiers which they would refuse to do as civilians.

There is one other consideration, and it is that this Bill will expire on 30th April, 1920, and then, we are told, it will not be renewed. Then they say the Government will not have this power which the Bill now gives them in industrial matters over such a large number of men. If that is so, why should they have the power now, seeing that the Bill is put forward purely for military purposes? Reference has been made to industrial unrest. I fear that will be greatly aggravated if this weapon against the workers is to be retained. We are told that this is solely to wind up the War, and for these reasons I trust the right hon. Gentleman will accept this Amendment.