"GONE-NO ADDRESS."

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1536, 4 September 1912, Page 6

"GONE-NO ADDRESS."

MILITARY PARADE SHIRKERS. Probably tho worst of tho annoyances which vox the soul of tho adjutant of a city Territorial regiment is tho elusive individual of whom it is written in official memoranda: "Gone—no address." Under the New Zealand Defence Act it should not, in theory, bo possible for anyone who is liable for military training to change his address without tho knowledge of the area officer of his district. In practice, tho "parade shirker" does it very often. So much, a representative of The Dominion gathered during an inquiry yesterday about military defaulters and their littlo ways. "These fellows givo us no end of trouble, said a much-worried member of the Now Zealand Staff. "A man is reported as 'gone—no address. . Ho may havo loft tho country, or tho district, or tho town; lie may oven have just moved a few yards up tho street, it's all the same to us. Wβ havo to find him again, and when wo do find him, ho has all sorts of excuses to offer. It means, also, a great amount of unnecessary correspondence, which we could very well do without. If we had less of this correspondence we would be able to get more time for instructional duties. Those fellows who go away without telling us whero they aro going aro liable to be dealt with, and it might be a good thinff if an example were made of one or two. Very often there is no intentional evasion of parades, and the man himself may. mean to" put them in elsewhere, or make them up when he returns, but if ho doesn't tell us where ho is goinj. • we have to find out. They aro attondinn parades much better than they were, —much better."