EARLY START

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20095, 15 November 1939, Page 6

EARLY START

DEPARTURE OF TROOPS INEVITABLE DECISION REPLY FROM MINISTER GISBORNE PROTESTS Stating that a certain amount of inconvenience was inevitable in regard to large troop movements, the Minister of Defence, the Hon. F. Jones, replied (o protests from the Gisborne Borough Council and the Gisborne Territorials’ Association regarding the early hour of departure of members of the first echelon from Gisborne last month, the statement being in the form of a letter read at last night’s meeting of the council.

‘'The hour of departure of troops from Gisborne on October 3 was fixed to tit in with transport arrangements for the whole of the Dominion,” the Minister’s letter stated. “An early start from Gisborne and some other stations was unavoidable under the special circumstances.

"Your council and the Territorial Association, no doubt, will appreciate the difficulty of providing satisfactory transport arrangements for the concentration at various camps of troops for all parts of the Dominion. If provision had been made for all parties of men to commence their journey at a time convenient to the public, the length of time required to complete the journeys and cost would have been greatly increased, and this would not have been in the interests of the country or the men.

“While it is my desire at all times to consider the interests of relatives and the public generally, I regret that on occasions when large troop movements are in progress a certain amount of inconvenience is inevitable.”

The Mayor, Mr. D. W. Coleman, M.P., said he had taken the matter up personally with the Minister, who had promised to see what he could do.