ELIGIBLE SEAFARERS

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2883, 22 September 1916, Page 6

ELIGIBLE SEAFARERS

AND MILITARY SERVICE

WAR REGULATIONS AMENDED

To prevent eligiblo men from escaping military service by going to sea in inter-ocean vessels, War Regulations weris made in July last which prohibited any male over the ago of,eighteen years from shipping as a member of tho crew of an oversea vessel unless 110 produced to the Superintendent of Mercantile Marine (a) a certificate of dischargo in Now Zealand from an oversea vessel within tho immediately preceding twelve months, or discharges tor at least twelvo months' service in vessels in tho coasting trade of New Zealand; or (b) a i*srmit to leavo Now Zealand issued under tho War Regulations, and still in force. This regulation, clause 23, has lately been amend?, cd, and tho IJnder-Secrotary of Internal Affairs has just addressed a memorandum to all permit officers, informing them oxactly of tho purport of tlio amendment. The memorandum runs as follows:— The effect oMJiis amendment is that tho powers of tho Superintendent of Mercantile Marino aro greatly enlarged, and, in future, when an application for a permit is mado by a person desiring to ship on an oversea vessel who has'actually followed tho sea and possesses discharges, such person should first of all bo referred to tho Superintendent. In tho ovont of that officer declining to accept tho discharges produced, tho application for a permit may then bo considered. In ( this connection tho following decisions of tho Hon. the Minister of Internal Affairs will rule: ' Where persons desirous of joining oversea vessels as engineers, firemen, trimmers, seamen, etc., do not como within paragraph (a) (as amended) of clause 25 of tho War Regulations of July 24, 1918, permit officers, in cases of urgency, may, without reference to tho Department, issue permits to loavo New Zealand under tho War Regulations :— (1) Upon the request of the shipping company concerned: To any applicant over military ago upon tho permit, officer being satisfied as to the character and bona fides of the applicant. To any applicant who is in the Second Division of the Roserve under tho Military Service Act, • 1916, provided that such applicant was married prior to May 1, 1915, or, if married since that <fete, has a child under sixteen years of age by a previous marriage, and satisfies the permit officer that notwithstanding *his inahiHty to prodnco tho discharges provided by paragraph (a) of clauso 25 he has generally followed the sea as his vocation, and that the permit officer is satisfied as to the character of the applicant. _ To youtig engineers of military age jiist out of their apprenticeship on shore but who tiaye never been to sea, or who, if having boon to sea for thefirst time, within the twelvo months previous to the application for a permit, are not able to comply with the requirements of paragraph (a) of clauso 25 ; Provided, however, that tho applicant must furnish a declaration ■that he intends to join tho ship as a ma?ine engineer, and a certificate from the local'manager of the shipping company concerned that tho applicant has entored the company's service permanently. To any applicant- of whatever age wKo produces a discharge from His Majesty's Forces granted after aotivo service at the front during the present war. Except as hereinbefore provided, all applications from men of military ago for permits to leave New Zealand in order that the applicants may join oversea vessels must be referred to the Department of Internal Affairs for decision.