February 18, 1916. 316 THE COLLIERY GUARDIAN. __ - _____x__,_-__ - -_- • COLLIERY RECRUITING COURTS. MILITARY SERVICE ACT, 1916. The Home Secretary announces, under date February 11, 1916, that in view of the passing of the Military Service Act the following arrangements have been made in regard to (i.) Applications for exemption from the Act of men employed -at coal mines to whom the Act applies; (ii.) Applications for exemption from military service of men employed at coal mines who have already attested under Lord Derby’s scheme. Applications under both (1.) and (ii.) will be dealt with by the Colliery Recruiting Courts, in accordance with the instructions (the full text of which is given below). (i.) Men to Whom the Act Applies. As regards (i.), the applications will fall into two classes. 1. Applications in respect of men belonging to the “ barred ” classes, i.e., men employed underground and men employed on the surface as winding enginemen, pumpmen, weighmen, electricians, fitters, and mechanics. It is intended to exempt these men in general from the Act. Owners should enter the names of all such men (not already attested, and coming within the Act) with the necessary particulars on Form 1. The Act applies (with certain exemptions) to all male British subjects who (a) were ordinarily resident in Great Britain on August 15, 1915, or have become since •that date or hereafter become ordinarily resident in Great Britain; (b) had attained the age of 18 years on August 15, '1915, and have not attained the ago of 41 before the appointed date (March 2, 1916); (c) were, on November 2, 1915, single or were widowers without children dependent on them. 2. Applications in respect of surface workers not belonging to the “ barred ” classes, and officials super- vising such workers. Owners should enter the names of all such men (not already attested, and coming within the Act) wibh the necessary particulars on Form 2, specifying those in respect of whom they apply for exemption. Two copies of each list should be sent duly certified to the Divisional Inspector of Mines before March 2, and one copy of each list is for retention by the owner. (ii.) Attested Men. As regards (ii.), attested men are now to be dealt with on the same lines as men under the Act, and the previous instructions issued by the Home Office to the Colliery Recruiting Courts in regard to those men are cancelled. Applications for exemption from military service may now be made, instead of for postponement to a later group, and they can be made in respect of all persons in the owner’s employment at once. The procedure will be assimilated to that for cases of men under the Act. Owners, therefore, should fill up Form 3 (for men of the “ barred ” classes) and Form 4 (for men not of the “ barred ” classes) and forward them to the Divisional Inspector of Mines with Forms 1 and 2 before March 2 next. It is specially desired that owners will enter in the forms the names and particulars of all men coming within the Act or attested as the case may be, even though in .the case of some non-barred surface workers they, may not think that the character of the work justifies them in applying for exemption. The Colliery Recruiting Court will require to have the whole position of the mine in regard to this question before them; and owners must be pre- pared to supply exact figures as to the number of men working in the mine at the beginning of the war, the number who have been taken into employment since the war began, and the number who have left to join the Forces.' It is suggested that, to secure uniformity, the owner should take the last pay day before March 2 as the date in respect of which to compile the lists. Surface clerks, persons employed in coking works, and persons employed chiefly off the colliery premises must not be included in the applications. Applications in respect of them must be made to the ordinary local tribunals. All the applications in respect of a mine will be taken at the same hearing, and due notice will be given of the day on which the hearing will take place. The instructions provide for the appointment by the men employed at the mine of a representative to attend at the hearing on their behalf. Owners are requested to put a notice at the pit head to this effect and to give any facilities that may be necessary for making the appointment. In the case of mines in detached areas not included within the district of any of the 23 Colliery Recruiting Courts, the applications should be addressed to the Divisional Inspector. The Home Office and the Colliery Recruiting Courts will not be able to enter into correspondence with individual owners in regard to points on the procedure for making applications or on the applications themselves. INSTRUCTIONS. 1. The provisions of the Act will apply to all men employed in coal mines who are not already attested and who fall within the description in section 1 of the Act, unless exempted in pursuance of section 2 of the Act. The Home Secretary has certified in pursuance of section 2 (2) that the work carried on at coal mines is work of national importance. 2. In the case of men working underground in coal mines and of surface workers at coal mines and officials in charge of such workers, exemptions on grounds con- nected with' business or employment* will be granted by the Colliery Recruiting Courts, acting on behalf of the Home Office. (The courts have no jurisdiction in regard to clerks in colliery offices or in regard to persons not employed on the mine premises. Persons employed in coking and by-product works, whether situated on the mine premises or not, are also outside the jurisdiction of the courts.) 3. Applications for exemption have to be sent in. before the “ appointed date,” i.e., March 2, 1916, but applications received after March 2, 1916, may be enter- tained if it is shown to the satisfaction of the court that the failure to make the application before that date was due to absence or to any cause that appears to the court to afford a reasonable ground for allowing' the applica- tions to be so made. 4. The Home Office has sent to the owner of each coal mine forms for use in making applications in respect of the men employed at the-mine and coming within the Act. The owner has been instructed to forward the forms duly filled in and certified by him (in. duplicate) to the Colliery Recruiting Court before March 2, 1916. Separate forms are to be used for (1) men belonging to the “ barred ”j- classes, (2) men belonging to the non- barred classes. These forms when received duly filled in and certified will be treated as applications for exemption under the Act. 5. The Colliery Recruiting Court will proceed to deal as soon and as rapidly as possible with the applications received from the mines in its area. 6. The following rules as to procedure will be observed :—■ (i.) The court-will forward the duplicate copies, of the application forms to the military representative as they are received. (ii.) The military representative will have the rigid to appear at the hearing of any application. The men employed at any colliery shall be entitled to appoint a representative to attend before the court when the applications in regard to that colliery arc being heard, and shall give notice of such appoint- ment forthwith to the court. (iii.) At least three clear days before the hearing, the court shall send to the owner, to the representa- tive (if any) appointed by the men, and to the military representative, notice in writing of the date and place fixed for the hearing. (iv.) All hearings shall take place in public unless the court in any particular case, due regard being given to the interests of the parties and of any other person concerned in the application, consider that an application or any part of the proceedings thereon should be heard in private, provided that the court may exclude the parties and the public at any time during the hearing of an application for the purpose of conferring upon any question affecting the decision of the application. (v.) The court may, if it thinks fit, cause to be read at the hearing and take into consideration any written statement made by the owner or his representative, or any man whose case is under consideration, or the military representative, when not present or repre- sented at the hearing. (vi.) A record of the decisions of the court shall be entered on the application forms which shall be filed in the office of the Divisional Inspector. 7. —(a) Applications in respect of men belonging to the “ barred classes.” (Form 1.)—If the court is satisfied, from the particulars entered in the form, that the principal and usual occupation of a man entered in Form 1 is one of the barred occupations, the- court will grant without any formal hearing of the case a certi- ficate of exemption in Form A. If in any case it appears to be doubtful whether the man belongs to the barred classes, the court will investigate it, hearing the owner or his representative, and the representative of the men and the military representative, if they so desire. If the court decides that the man does not belong to the barred classes, but that he should be exempted on the ground that ■“ it is expedient in the national interests that the man should, instead of being employed in military, service, be engaged in other work in which he is habitually engaged ’’—they will give him a certificate of exemption in pursuance of the next paragraph. (b) Applications in respect of men belonging to the non-barred classes of surface workers. (Form 2.)—The question which the court will have to decide is whether “it is expedient in the national interests that the man should, instead of being employed in military service, be engaged in other work in which he is habitually engaged.” If it is .shown to the satisfaction of the court that the services which the man performs are indispensable to the working of the mine, and that they cannot be performed by available men not of military age or otherwise not fit for military service, they will grant an exemption. The court will hear the owner or his representative, in support of his claim for the grant of certificates of exemption to these men, the represen- tative of the mon, and the military representative, if they so desire, and such other witnesses as the court think fit, and will then decide which men are to bo exempted'and which not. Men to be exempted will be given certificates in Form A with the addition after the • words “in a coal mine ” of words specifying the actual occupation in which the man is engaged (e.g., “ as a banksman ”). . * Exemptions on the other grounds mentioned in the Act will be granted by the Local Tribunals established under the Act, and applications for such exemptions must be made to the Tribunals and not to the Colliery Courts. f The “ barred ” classes are.persons employed underground and persons employed on the surface as winding enginemen, pumpmen,’ weighmen (including checkweighmen), elec- tricians, fitters, and mechanics. Certified managers, under- managers, and surveyors are regarded as being included in the “ barred ” classes. . 8. Applications in respect of attested men.—The fore- going instructions do not apply to men already attested under Lord Derby’s scheme; but it has been decided that a similar procedure shall be followed in regard to them, in lieu of the present procedure. Attested men belonging to the “ barred ” classes are to receive exemp- tion certificates (but on a different form, Form B) in the same way as men of these classes who come under the Act, and as regards non-barred men, an employer will be allowed to make (instead of the claims for post- ponement as men are called up) an immediate applica- tion for exemption, which may be either without limit of time or temporary according to the judgment of the court after reviewing all the circumstances of the case. Where temporary exemption is granted it should be for a fixed period of time, not to a later group. The procedure will accordingly be as follows :— The owner has been requested to fill up and submit to the Colliery Recruiting Court (at the same time as the forms in respect of men under the Act) similar forms (Nos. 3 and 4) in respect of his attested men, entering on separate forms the “ barred ” and the “ non- barred.” (The forms supplie d for this purpose are on paper of different colour from those for mon under the Act.) These will be considered by the Colliery Recruiting Court at the same hearing as the applications by the owner in respect of the men under the Act. /Is regards attested, men of'the barred, classes.—The court will proceed as under 7 (a), but the certificates given will be in Form B instead of Form A. /Is regards attested, men of the non-barred- classes.— The court will proceed as under 7 (b), but the certificates will be in Form B instead of Form A. 9. The court will communicate its decision to the owner and recruiting officer forthwith at the hearing, and the individual certificates will be made out subse- quently (as soon as possible after the hearing), and forwarded to the owner for distribution to the men concerned. 10. An application may be made by the man himself instead of by the mine owners. This will usually be unnecessary; but it will bo the proper course in some cases (e.g., that of a checkweigher, who is regarded as being within the barred classes, or that of a surveyor practising independently, and doing the survey work under the Coal Mines Act for more than one mine. The court will investigate and decide on any such case, following