The Cabinet at last appears to have come to a decision that it is necessary for the satisfactory conduct of the war to bring under national service all the single young men, shirkers and others who have abstained from attesting under Lord Derby’s Scheme.
Legal effect is to be given to the scheme by a short Bill which is to be introduced in Parliament next week. This will carry out the resolution arrived at Tuesday’s Cabinet endorsing the pledge given by the Premier that single men of military age shall be called up for service before the married men’s classes are called, and it will transform what has been a moral into a legal obligation, to use Mr. Asquith’s words.
The Bill is short one, and providers, it is understood, for the compulsory enlistment of all men of military age, with provisions giving power to exclude men engaged in reserved occupations, and giving power also to tribunals to grant exemptions from service where good cases are made out and sufficient causes shown,
There will also be power to appeal against the decisions of tribunals. The Bill in its present form, it is said, deals with both single and married men of military age, but the latter will not be called up until the single men’s classes are exhausted.
There will, in fact, be very little difference from Lord Derby’s Scheme, except that there will be compulsory instead of voluntary enrolment.
