NEXT-OF-KIN PROBLEM

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2558, 4 September 1915, Page 6

NEXT-OF-KIN PROBLEM

' When the autliorities demand to know of .an accepted recrnib, his next-of-kin for, record purposes, it is accepted in the majority of cases .as meaumE the person to be coinmunicated mth.snould injury or'death ensue,' : A case that has occurred in Wellington, appears to indicate that there are'some recruits who interpret the matter somewhat differently, and believe that in naming, their next-of-kin. to the authorities they are willing/their estate to the person liamed. Tho' oase mentioned was that of a man who was wounded, ■ and. not even his brothers .or sisters knew of it until it. was pointed out to tliein in the paper. Then they saw that the man had named liis seven-year-old son.- as his next-of-kin in the strict meaning' of the phrase, but ono'imagines that the Defence Department require to know tho next-of-kin •of responsible years— l in fact ;the person whom' the recruit .would desire to be the first to bo advised of any trouble that might'befall hinii With respect to the case, mentioned above, the boy .happened to bo Hying with a stranger away from Wellington, so that, the soldier's immediate relatives in Wei-, lington did not Teceive advice ahead of the papers as is-the custom. •' > ' .