Oral Answers to Questions — Royal Air Force. – in the House of Commons at on 15 October 1941.
Captain Leonard Plugge
, Rochester Chatham
asked the Secretary of State for Air the reasons governing the regulation that Royal Air Force officers must not smoke pipes in public?
Mr Harold Balfour
, Isle of Thanet
The practice referred to, while generally discouraged, is not the subject of any regulation in the Royal Air Force.
Major Sir Frank Markham
, Nottingham South
Why should it be discouraged? Is it not a direct reflection on the officers of one Service against those of another?
Mr Harold Balfour
, Isle of Thanet
There is no question of disciplinary action or of regulation. It is a matter of taste and opinion.
Major Sir Frank Markham
, Nottingham South
Surely it is going to the limit of absurdity that in these little matters there should be this dictatorial and didactic attitude on the part of senior officers?
Mr Harold Balfour
, Isle of Thanet
There is no dictatorial attitude. I have made it clear that there is no question of discipline or regulation. It is a matter left purely to the taste of the officers.
Mr Jack Lawson
, Chester-le-Street
Would the Air Ministry be just as pleased to see a man smoke a pipe in public as a cigarette?
Secretary of State was originally the title given to the two officials who conducted the Royal Correspondence under Elizabeth I. Now it is the title held by some of the more important Government Ministers, for example the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.
