DEFENCE HALL

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20119, 13 December 1939, Page 4

DEFENCE HALL

FACILITIES WANTED “PRIMITIVE PROVISION" APPROACH TO MINISTER NO FUNDS AVAILABLE “Conditions for the training of territorial units and for the general handling of military matters in Gisborne can only be described as ■primitive. The space available was all too small, in the accommodation provided by the Defence Department, while the military training scheme was on a peace-time basis, tout with the added demands ol war activity, the facilities are totally inadequate,” stated a speaker at a meeting of the executive of the Gisborne Territorial Association on Monday evening. The provision of proper accommodation for defence training in Gisborne is one of the principal objectives of the association, and Monday’s discussion arose from the receipt of a letter from the 'Minister of Defence, the Hon. F. Jones, through the district member of Parliament, IMr. D. W. 'Coleman, indicating that in the present conditions there was little likelihood of anything 'being done to improve matters here.

The secretary, Mr. L. [Barker, tabled correspondence which had passed on this subject. The association’s most recent letter had been addressed to •Mr. Coleman as follows:

“At the last meeting of our executive il was directed to bring before your notice the fact that a suitable drill hall is urgently needed in our town. Since the loss by fire several years ago of ’the Garrison Hall, we have been forced to use the Abercorn Hall for military purposes. This is far too small, and the floor space most inadequate, particularly in view of the present crisis. Moreover, the facilities provided for medical examinations, which are crude in the extreme, fall far short of military regulations, and have been the subject of adverse comment by one of the medical officers.

Need For Hall Appreciated

“,Tn drawing your attention to this matter, we feel confident that you will see that it receives the attention of the Cabinet Ministers, and the Minister for Defence, and do all in your power to remedy the present state of affairs.”

Mr. Jones' reply to this letter stated: "The need for a drill hall at Gisborne has been appreciated for some time, but it has not been possible up to the present to provide the necessary finance for the purpose, and it is doubtful if, in view of more pressingfinancial requirements in other directions, it will be possible now to do so. I regret I cannot let you have a more favourable reply at the present time.”

While recognising the considerations which must have been in the mind of the Minister, the executive of the association registered its opinion that the provision of adequate facilities for territorial training and for the conduct of the business of the Army Department in Gisborne was of relatively greater importance than many of the objectives on which large sums of Government money were being spent at present.

Examination Under Difficulties

In regard to the examination of recruits, both -for the territorial forces and for the special forces which would be sent on active service in the near future, it was stated by a member of the executive who was also a medical examining officer that it was almost impossible to carry out the rigorous examinations laid down under the prevailing conditions at the Abercorn Hall. The Army Department had established the most exacting standards of work for medical boards, but in the case of .Gisborne had made no provision of a satisfactory character for carrying out that work.

The examinations were carried out in the main body of the Abercorn Hall, the only protection (from public observation being hessian screens, which offered no Obstacle to the noises inseparable from movements through the hall itself. On mariy occasions it had been necessary to ask that all other activity on the floor of the hall should cease while the examination of recruits was proceeding.

The opinion was further expressed that in no other town of the size of Gisborne were the defence training facilities so poor, this being particularly regrettable in view of the appreciation shown by the Army Department of the offer of Gisborne territorials’ services for the Special Force.

It was stated that the number of men drawn from district territorial units for the first and second echelons was comparable with the numbers drawn from metropolitan areas. Men in this district had shown themselves keen and enthusiastic in respect of military training, and their enthusiasm deserved a great deal more stimulation than had been forthcoming to date from official sources.