MR SCRIMGEOUR’S ARMY SERVICE

Press, Volume LXXIX, Issue 23975, 16 June 1943, Page 2

MR SCRIMGEOUR’S ARMY SERVICE

; “More Consideration j Than Usual” i STATEMENT BY MR FRASER i (PA.) WELLINGTON, June 15. The following statement in reply to that made by the Controller of Com- . mercial Broadcasting (Mr C. G. Scrim- , geour) was issued to-day by the Prime Minister (the Rt. Hon. P. Fraser):— > “The question of the calling up of , any one man to the military forces, through the usual channels, in spite ot ! any objection he may have to service in the Army, and after the appropriate military appeal board has decided the matter, and in the light of the further fact that his employer does not consider his service to be essential, is not a matter that usually demands any special attention frojn myself as Prime Minister. Nor does Mr Scrimgeour s long list of complaints, conjectures, insinuations and explanations for desiring not to give military service enhance in any way its importance, rather the contrary. I am satisfied, after inquiries as Acting-Minister of Defence, that the fact is that Mr Scrimgeour has had rather more consideration extended to him by the National Service and military authorities than is usually asked for by the average man called up. “My own sole contact with the matter of Mr Scrimgeour’s military service was last week at the instance of Mr Nash, who conveyed to me representations from Mr Scrimgeour, given in a personal interview with Mr Nash, as to allegedly inconsiderate treatment by the military authorities in the matter of the date for him to report, which had been advanced from that given by the area officer, Mr Fraser’s Request “I gave the details furnished by Mr Scrimgeour to the military authorities, particularly in regard to family affairs, and asked that in the circumstances every consideration within the law should be extended to him in this particular matter. After reconsideration by the Army authorities concerned, the date of Mr Scrimgeour’s call-up was postponed to the date previously fixed by the Army authorities, as he requested through .Mr Nash. “The matter of any soldier’s inoculation or vaccination is one exclusively for the military authorities, and does not come under the notice of the Minister of Defence. The attempt to insinuate that military officers occupying high and responsible positions, charged with the administration of our military forces, would be parties to any discriminatory treatment against Mr Scrimgeour or anyone else is just as absurd as it is unfair and slanderous. Mr Scrimgeour will receive the same privileges in the matter of being a candidate for Parliament for any constituency he cares to stand for as every other soldier is entitled to. “From the Government point of view there is only one question of importance involved in Mr Scrimgeour’s latest statement. That is its complete violation of the undertaking given by Mr Scrimgeour as a precondition to his reinstatement after his suspension some months ago, and the effect of such flagrant and persistent insubordination upon the public service of the Dominion, in which the first essential is discipline. The Government is compelled to give grave consideration to this latest development.’’ Mr Wilson’s Statement The Minister of Broadcasting (the Hon. D. Wilson), in a statement, said he was surprised at being attacked in the public press by Mr Scrimgeour, particularly as Mr Scrimgeour had given an assurance when he was reinstated as Controller of Commercial Broadcasting in March that he would not take up’ a hostile attitude against the Minister, nor encourage others to do so, and would not make any statements, either in the newspapers or over the air, without having first obtained the Minister's written consent: No representations had been made by Mr Scrimgeour since that time concerning his mobilisation with the armed forces. The last communication the Minister had from him was dated June 3, and in this he stated that his mobilisation order had been withdrawn. There was absolutely no truth in the assertion that Mr Scrimgeour had been "railroaded” into the armed forces, as he had received every consideration from Mr Wilson, the Gpvernment, and the Armed Forces Appeal Board. If, as Mr Scrimgeour stated, there were a considerable number of grade 1 men in the Commercial Broadcasting Service, it was because Mr Scrimgeour had appealed for them without at any time asking the Minister’s advice as to who should be appealed for. Replying to Mr Scrimgeour’s charge that the Minister was on the point of making the appointment of an actingcontroller before inquiring as to the officer’s liability for military service, Mr Wilson said that Mr Scrimgeour had recommended this person without disclosing that he had military obligations. Mr Wilson added that no one directly subordinate to him had been appealed for, and he had lost two private secretaries to the armed forces.