TROOPS FOR CAMP

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20065, 11 October 1939, Page 4

TROOPS FOR CAMP

GISBORNE FAREWELLS MINISTER’S INTEREST NO MORE EARLY STARTS “I think I can say confidently that there will be no further occasion for men bound for camp to parade in the very early hours of the morning, or for their relatives and friends to stay up most of the night in order to give them a fitting farewell,” stated Mr. D. W. Coleman, M.P., in response to an inquiry to-day. The district member said that last week he made representations to the Minister of Defence, the Hon. F. Jones, explaining the difficulty which arose over the first dispatch of troops from this district for Trentham and Burnham, and the inconvenience caused to a large number of citizens of Gisborne and residents of the countryside. “The Minister undertook to inquire into the matter, and to make arrangements to obviate such inconvenience in the future, if possible,” said Mr. Coleman. When the first large draft of troops was called up for dispatch to the camps, the muster was held at 1.30 a.m., so that the men could 'be transported to Wairoa in time to catch a special railcar for Napier, and connect there with a special troop-train bound for Trentham and Wellington. The inconvenience of the hour did not prevent the assembly of a large crowd to see the men on their way, and a rousing send-off was given to the detachment. Nevertheless, there was much adverse comment upon the Army Department’s arrangements for the dispatch of the troops, and many members of the public endorsed the emphatic protest registered by the Gisborne Returned Soldiers’ Association.