ILLEGAL PRACTICE

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume 52, Issue 3260, 7 May 1943, Page 4

ILLEGAL PRACTICE

WEARING OF ARMY GEAR

MEN ON INDEFINITE LEAVE HOME GUARDSMEN OFFEND It has again that the wearing of army uniforms or equipment by Home Guardsmen not on military duties or soldiers on indefinite leave, is illegal.

The military authorities have found that in the country, particularly, Territorials on indefinite leave from the ; Army are serious offenders. All New Zealand, it has been said, men could be seen .working in the fields wearing their battledress trousers and their Army boots when they were not entitled to do so.

This does not apply, of course, to soldiers working under the Army harvesting and labour schemes. “Home Guardsmen mainly offend by wearing their boots when they are not on Home Guard duties, but the wearing of Army overcoats by-Home Guardsmen to go to work in wet weather is also fairly widespread,” it was stated. The use of Army gear by campers was another offence mentioned.

Particularly disturbing, said one officer, was the wearing of uniforms to obtain privileges granted to soldiers. Some men on indefinite leave from the Army donned their uniforms to attend dances, or secure concessions on railways or at race meetings. Not only were these offenders illegally wearing their uniforms, but they were obtaining’ concessions they , were not entitled to. j* “It is often found that the men who are not entitled to be wearing their uniforms weap them untidily,” said the officer. “They have been away from Army discipline and tend to be-

come slipshod.” During the hearing of a case in the Christchurch Magistrate’s- Court recently it was stated that the question of wearing uniforms unlawfully was not a civil charge and that the military authorities had ample pow‘er under military law to deal withpersons' wrongfully wearing them. While the military authorities had th'e power, it was definitely a' civil offence to wear a uniform illegally and was generally dealt with as such, said an -officer of the administrative branch of District Headquarters, ■Christchurch. Fine of £2

Under the regulations for the tary Forces of New Zealand, paragraph 931, of section 14, which deals with dress, reads: “No Territorial or cadet shall wear his uniform or any part thereof (including the greatcoat) except when performing military duties, or serving in any camp of training, or military exercise, or going to or from the place of parade, exercise, training or military duty. Every Territorial or cadet who commits a breach of this regulation is liable to a fine not exceeding £2 for each such offence, recoverable on summary

This regulation applies not only to the Territorial forces, but to such > units as the Defence Engineers’ Service Corps and the Home Guard. The Home Guard is constituted part of the defence forces within the meaning of the Defence Act by the Defence Emergency Regulations. Under these regulations all proves-' ions included in the Defence Act (including the one quoted above) are • applicable and with necessary modification “apply with respect to the Home Guard as if it were part of the Territorial force.”

Men who are indefinitely released from the Army are generally not asked to hand in their uniforms because they are usually required to ' serve with' the Home Guard or to return to the Army at a later date,, and are permitted to retain the equipment to save going through the trouble of drawing a new issue.