That is where I think the Government make a mistake. The White Paper reads as follows: It is proposed at the outset only to exercise powers of compulsory enrolment … in certain areas where an insufficient number of Home Guards is available under the voluntary system. That is a statement of policy by the Government. The net result will be very much the same, but the Government would have been very much wiser if they had said that the intention was to apply compulsion all over the country and then to take powers to exempt in certain areas. I am afraid there will be dissatisfaction if, for example, a person living in Cardiganshire is able to say that because he lives in that area, the condition will not apply to him, whereas if he had lived in Cardiff it would apply to him, or vice-versa. Why should there be discrimination? If the Government had said that they would introduce compulsion on a national basis and then exempt men in areas it would have made a great psychological difference, and they ought to take that matter into consideration. I agree that those who have already joined the Home Guard should be entitled to retain their rights to resign over a certain period, and I am in agreement with my right hon. and gallant Friend who said he did not think that many members of the Home Guard would avail themselves of the privilege.

I pass on to the question of compulsory attendance at parades. My experience is that members of the Home Guard who are keen on their job have been very anxious to get some provision of this sort for a long time, and it will be generally welcomed by the Home Guard. But I am afraid that the actual number of hours suggested in the White Paper will be impossible in many parts of the country. My area is a rural one, and my battalion consists very largely of small farmers and farm-servants, and it is impossible to expect them to do 12 hours a week. I gather that that is the maximum, and I hope that we shall be allowed a good deal of latitude. There are one or two other things to which I want to refer. A considerable number of volunteers in the Home Guard do not attend parades, and, when they are asked why, they say, "It will be all right. When the emergency arises, we shall be there." I am sorry to say that many of them are men who served in the last war. It is very unfair to their colleagues in the Home Guard and misleading to the Government. However efficient they may be, if they turn up at the last moment when invasion takes place, their nuisance value will be greater than their usefulness. They may turn up at platoon headquarters, not having attended parades for a long time. We therefore shall not be relying upon them and the result will be that they will not know where to go when the emergency arises. They will be crowding the platoon headquarters and really be interfering with the efficient work the platoon is supposed to be doing in their own area.

In regard to ammunition I appreciate the statement that has been made, but I still say that the Government are not dealing fairly with the Home Guard in the ammunition given to them for training and practice. It is no good expecting the Home Guard to be an efficient instrument if all that you give them consists of a few rounds of ammunition with which to practice. Apparently there are difficulties in the way, but I would beg of the War Office to give these fellows a better chance of protecting themselves and of defending the country. On the question of weapons, we recognise that there has been a tremendous improvement since the early days. At one time we could not get any guns at all. We are now getting many different types of guns, and I, personally, welcome every one, but at the same time the greater variety of guns which are sent us the greater our difficulty of training the men who have to use them. It would be much better if we had a definite number of the same type rather than so many of a different type. In connection with this matter, I do not think that there are enough permanent instructors. In my battalion we have two, and it is a battalion which covers a very large acreage and a large number of villages. It consists of 1,300 to 1,500 men, and I am entitled to only one permanent instructor for each of my two companies.

In the matter of allowances, the great merit of the Home Guard is that it is a voluntary organisation. We accepted membership on that basis, and, personally, I am sorry that I am not still a volunteer. I enjoyed myself much more as a volunteer than I do in my present capacity, higher up. Officers and men are having to meet expenses out of their own pockets. Take the practical question of an area like mine. We are given a certain number of guns, and we have to take them up to the various platoons and sections 10 or 15 miles away. We have to beg, borrow or steal a car, because it is impossible to carry machine guns or Northover guns for such a distance, and we have to pay for the cost of conveyance. Another thing is that this applies to coastal areas. I have a big coastal area under my command. I have a letter, not from anyone in my battalion, but from a man who lives in the South of England who has to go up into a coastal strip. He says: Very soon we may have to fight on the beaches, a handful of elderly men and young boys with very little close support. My own small tactical role, for instance, is one for which in 1915 I would have expected to have been allotted 60 or 70 regulars but I am expected if ' Jerry ' comes to-morrow, to fight with a couple of dozen second line troops. That applies to many such areas. I have a coastline under my command, and there are many small farmers and farm servants who have joined the Coastal Defence Service, thereby receiving 50s. a week. Yet some of my men in the Home Guard must do the same work and receive only their subsistence allowances. That raises two problems. One is the dissatisfaction at the difference in allowances, and the other is that if the Home Guard are called upon for the same service as this other Service, they should get similar remuneration. I am perfectly certain that while you must not put too much on the Home Guard, we will do what we are asked to do so long as we are given the means of preparing for it. The Home Guard is, I think, showing a keenness and desire to serve the country which are commendable.