LEAVE FROM CAMPS

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 60, 4 December 1917, Page 8

LEAVE FROM CAMPS

NEW RULES LAID DOWN

INFORMATION FOR RESERVISTS

The K?cruitiug Board has issued a. memorandum defining tho conditions under which leave can be granted to soldiers in training for domestic or other reasons. Definite rules have been laid down under this heading. The memorandum reads as follows:— "The withdrawal of men from the Expeditionary Force Training Camps has assumed such dimensions as to preaffect the training of the men and the efficiency and due dispatch of reinforcement drafts. This trouble is accentuated by tho fact that the great majority of applications is from soldiers whose training is almost completed and who aro upon the eve of embarkation. It cannot be too clearly understood and emphasised that once a man has entered into camp his course of training should not be disturbed at any time unless for the most grave and urgent reasons. His training is undertaken in the shortest possible time, and is_ based upon a definite syllabus, the omission of any part or which renders the individual, and consequently his company, less efficient than they might have been. It follows, therefore, that training should not be interfered with at any stage. "Every reservist called ud for service has tho right of appeal for exemption on any of the grounds laid down in the Military Service A'ct. His necessities should be thoroughly investigated by the Military Service Board before lie goes into camp and not left for consideration after he has commenced his training. This question of leave from camps has been recently under consideration, and it has been decided that applications by soldiers for leave up to fourteen davs will be dealt with by the Camp Commandants in camp, and that applications for leave for over fourteen days mil be referred by the camp authorities to the Third Wellington Military Service Board for de-

cision. "Jinny cnses have arisen where men or their wives have applied for leave on account of' approaching confinements. A recent conference of chairmen of military service boards has affirmed the following as the principle on which they will act if such cases are brought before them. If the_ confinement is due while the soldier is undergoing training he may be granted fourteen days' leave with pay for the event; if the confinement is due within two months of the date of departure of his reinforcement, he will be detained in the Dominion until after the event, and may be granted fourteen days leave with pay for it. As confinement cases will be treated 011 this definite principle it is considered unnecessary to refer applications of this kind to the Military Service Board; the Camp Commandants will deal with these cases and will act in conformity with this principle upon the medical cvidenco which must be submitted in support of each case. ' . "Applications are of the following categories:— . "(a) Application from the man himself in camp. This application must bo made only on the form provided in camp, and must be transmitted through the camp authorities to the Military Service Board. The board will not consider any application through any other channcl whatsoever. No application from a soldier in the Thirty-third Reinforcements will lie received after December 10. "(b) Application from the employer. Only the public interest can justify the release of a soldier from camn at the request of an employer, whether farmer, manufacturer, or otherwise. Recent events have shown unmistakably that tho groat majority of applications nre fey or 011 feehnlf of men o7igfipon in the lirrricultural and pastoral industries. "it can he taken for granted that the necessity for leave can be foreseen and. that, there can lie no hardship, therefore, in insisting that .indications must h" made two clear months before the soldiers' training ends. It is pronospd to publish from time to time the last dav on which applications will lie received in respect- of soldiers in a particular reinforcement. An exception is bein<* made in respect of the Thirtythird Reinforcements. .Anplieations for soldier* i'l this draft will not bo considered if "received later than December -10. "It, is quite anticinnted that at any time before tho sailing of a draft, urgent cases may arise by reason of sudden emergency, such as death, serious illness, or some other cause could not have been foremen. These emergenev applications will be received -it a nv time, and, if urgency is established, will be considered."