Army and Air Force (Annual) Bill.

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at on 11 April 1921.

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Photo of Mr Thomas Shaw Mr Thomas Shaw , Preston

That rules out the new soldier. It is the same thing in effect. I suggest that a punishment which inflicts degradation on a man, which incites his comrades, is a bad punishment, and I also suggest there is something seriously wrong in the discipline of a force that requires a punishment of this kind. If we were savages, Red Indians, one could understand it; but we are supposed to be civilised Britons. I shall certainly vote for the Second Reading of this Clause, believing that a punishment of this character denotes a low state of civilisation, a bad state of discipline, and finally makes for inefficiency.