A soldier's change of heart

From Hansard

ARMY DISCHARGES AND REENLISTMENTS.

HC Deb 20 February 1893 vol 8 cc1860-11860

§MR. E. H. BAYLEY(Camberwell, N.)

I beg to ask the Secretary of State for War whether his attention has been called to the case of Susan Bennett, a 1861 widow, who spent her entire means in purchasing her son's discharge from the Army in April last, and the fact that, although the man re-enlisted within a month, the War Office refuses to refund any portion of the money; and whether there is any Regulation against the repayment; and, if so, whether he will abolish such Regulation, and in the meantime exercise the power he possesses to suspend it in the case of Susan Bennett?

§*MR. CAMPBELL-BANNERMAN

I have no power, under existing Regulations, to make any refund of purchase-money in case of a man who re-enlists. The discharge and re-enlistment give rise to public charges from which the soldier should certainly not be relieved; but the subject generally is under consideration, and it is possible that some modification may be made in the present Rides.