asked the Secretary of State for Air why it is that Royal Air Force personnel from the Crown Colonies, as distinct from those from the Dominions, are not allowed to wear a distinctive badge bearing the name of the Colony from which they come?

The wearing of a distinguishing badge is restricted to personnel from the overseas Dominions concerned in the Commonwealth Joint Air Training Plan and from Allied countries. I have received no evidence of a general desire on the part of men from the Colonial Dependencies for such badges, and it is desirable to avoid the undue multiplicity of badges.

Is the right hon. Gentleman not aware that much feeling is caused by the fact that many of these men come here wearing these badges and are told to take them off? Would it not be at least a gracious gesture to permit this distinction?

I understand that there are at least as many men who do not want to be decorated with these badges as there are who do. There are people who are pressing a very great multiplicity of badges upon us. One firm was recently offering for sale badges for Eire, Scotland, Wales, Jersey, and B.I.A.V., which I understand means British Latin American Volunteers.