MEDICAL BOARDS.

Levin Daily Chronicle, 29 January 1918, Page 4

MEDICAL BOARDS.

DE. TIIACKEK'S CIIAk SOME EXTRAORDINARY EVIDENCE.

At the inquiry into Dr. Ihackcr . charges against the Canterbury Mill tary Board, the principal witness, l'n vatc Burrows, made the followinj depositions: — "My age is 24 years last November I was a student of St. Albans Schoo until I was 1-1 yours of age. Vtlnle »' attending there 1 was a member o. the School Cadets. After leaving school I was a member of the Queen i Cadets for about 1(3 months. Alte that I joined the Christ's Collegi Utiles under Captain Hewlett. 1 oi:cu pied the rank of bugler in both tin Queen's Cadets and the .Christ s Cot lege liiflcs. I .was in the College llilles about tlireo months when 1 re turned my uniform by direction of m. superior oflicers. I registered for n Territorial Forces when the Act eann into force, and was medically exam hied. Since that date I heard noting further with regard to a branch of the service. I ? n^ st „ c ' voluntarily for the 24tli Reinforce ments, which went into camp on Janu arv sth, 1917.. In civil life I was cm ploved in a position of trust vitl Messrs Stewart Dawson, of the city which position 1 resigned in order t< fulfil my military obligations have reason to believe that- I shall I) 1 taken into that firm s employment when I get my full discharge which at present is being withheld I was examined and passed as Jit by, think, Doctor Duncan towards -the em of 1016, and went into camp on Janu nry sth, 1917. Was in camp til January 25tli, on which day 1 ua granted a few days' sick leave. Oi the last day of sick leave 1 went t< Colonel Mac Gibbon, who, before n examined me, said: "Oh, what s tin matter with you? Have you got ; tired lit?" I said: Xo; but Iwa going back to camp that nignt, am wanted him to examine my chest. -11* did so, and then sent me with a not< to Captain Northcote, who cxteiulei my leave another four days. Befor leaving Colonel Mac Gibbon, lie toll me to rest at home in bed for anothe four days, and the extension grantee by Captain Northcote enabled me ti do this. At th? expiration of tin fourth dav I consulted Dr. Thaeker and asked him to examine my chest which ho did. He then told me tha the whole of my left side had suft'eiei from pleurisy in the past, and that , was threatened with a sudden break down and an attack of phthisis. Hi gave me a certificate to Surgeon-Gen oral Henderson, who asked me win passed me as lit in the iirst place. told him I thought it was Captan Duncan, of Christehurcli. He sai< that I should not have been passed and then gave mo a letter to the Com mandant of Awapuni camp, rccom mending niy immediate discharge. Oi the following day I went before tin Medical Board, but no further actioi has been taken by the board tip to tin present date. For about three week after this day I was doing notlun; whatever in camp, at the end of whicl time I went or. sick parade. Tin camp doctor, the orderly officer win examined me, said: 'There is not ver; much wrong there, only a bit hard 01 the breathing on the left side, and yoi had better take .full duties.' I wa. 011 dutv for another fortnight, at t.n end of" which time I found myself in capable of sounding the bugle calls The adjutant inquired of me what wa the matter, and when I told him In said I have better report to hcadqunr ters for a re-examination by thrc doctors. The result was that on ieav ing the room Major Thomas said tha t need better looking Oil Sat urday, March 10th, I was told to pad up and go to Colonel Fyffe for treat inent. On arrival in Wellington rang him up and told him that I wa sent to him from Awapuni for treat mcnt. His reply was that he lin< had no word from Awapuni about mr and that he could not: sen me that da; as ho was off duty. Having only : few shillings in my pocket and m friends in Wellington with "whom could stay, accepted the kindly office of an unknown benefactor who wa good enough to arrange for my passage money to "Lyttelton. I arrived then on Simdav, 'March .lltli, and came 01 to Christ church. On the following day I went to Doctor Tliacker am told hi in how it was I had come t< Christehureh without leave, and alse repeated to him what Henderson and Major Thomas had saif to me. I saw .Captain Northcotc, am as he was unable to give me any ::d vice, adding, that so far as lie couh see, I shouid be treated as a deserter I remained under Doctor Thaeker treatment until about May 10th, 1917 a Tluirsdav, on which day I was ar rested and placed in custody of the military authorities in a damp and evil smelling harness room at King Ed ward's Barracks. The next day, Fri day, I was brought up at the orderly room and charged with desertion. Th< officer who heard the charge read, tole me I should have reported to the head office. When I told him that I had done so, he said: 'Well, then, tha* clears you of that "charge." ' T.atei L was sent under escort to Colone 1 Mac Gibbon, to whom were handed th( papers concerning the charge. From here I was taken to the recruiting office for re-examination; there wen two doctors here. I was then taken back to Colonel Mac Gibbon with the papers, and then back to my forinei place of detention—the harness room at the barracks. About noon of tliif dav (Friday), my friend. Private Alec Elder, was going past the window ol the room where I was in detention anei spoke to me. He said that he hail just come from Doctor Thaeker's, am bad just sent a telegram to Surgeon General Henderson to the effect that Bugler Burrows and Private Elder— both unfit men —had been arrested by 'Keel-caps.' I asked him, Private Elder, to have a look at niy surround ings, and then go and inform Doetoi Tliacker where I was. About o 'clod the doctor came, and I was permittee to accompany liim. 1 was taken lionu and straight away ordered to bed. J was instructed to report myself at the barracks the following day, Saturday at .10 o'clock a.m. and did so. Aftei a lapse of a few minutes I was takei to Colonel Mac Gibbon's rooms ii Cathedral square. After an examina tion of my papers, he did not examine me. He said: 'if we let you conn out till 2 o 'clock this afternoon wil you promise not to go near Docto Thaeker?' I gave the requisite prom ise. but later, after further considera tion, I felt Ihat T had been both in suited and hurt by being denied tin right to consult my own family doctor who had always taken such good can of inc. The insult I refer to wa being arrested and treated as a crim inal while out on parole. At - o'clocl r reported again at the barracks aiu was taken to Colonel MacGibbon'. where I was allowed my liberty nnti 10 a.m. on the following Monday, was again taken to Colonel Mac Gib lion's and sent, under escort to Dodo Black more to see if I was fit to trave hat night. The latter reported me ii In travel. I was then taken back t< Doloncl Mac Gibbon, and was (hen te.ld [ was going back lo camp, and the Colonel added: 'From "what I can see ;ou are going to be a free man.' He •.aid: 'You are going to be put out of lie army altogtlier, and don't let mc icar any more of this Doctor Thaeker business. Ho has been writing up to readquarters and kicking up a devil of a row.' I was then taken up under escort to Wellington en route to camp.

I was given a letter by Doctor Tliacker to Surgeon-General Henderson introducing mc. I was then sent on to the military ward at the Wellington Hospital and was there for a fortnight. 1 was told to pack up by 2 o'clock as I way going back to camp. I was on my way to Lambton station, asked the military police for permission to _ ring up a friend. I'ermission being - o-iven, I rang up Mr T. M. Wilford, M.P. I told him of my treatment and my present circumstances, when lie in- , quired whether General Henderson knew about it. I told him I did not know I hail S ot instructions from the orderly at the hospital. He (Mr Wilford) then took a note of what 1 told him, and promised to inquire into it. I then went on to camp, and next day was taken before the orderly room, charged with desertion. In the result the charge, not being substantiated. was dismissed. Later m the day I was again examined by two medical officers, namely Captain McKenzie and Major Hoskins, as a result of which I was ordered to the hospital tent where I remained until I was medically boarded at Fcatlierstoa and "in back to Awapuni. About two days later I was told to pack up and report to records room by 10 o clock. I was to get my discharge. From that day to this I have not received my discharge. I have been put on leave without pay until further orders, and have consequently been without means of subsistence for a period of four oi five months, and left a charge upon my friends and relatives. My record of ■service both civil and military, is absolutely beyond reproach. Previous to enlisting I was trusted with uncounted jewels as a jeweller's salesman, and 'hope to get mv old position back when I get my honourable discharge from the forces." Dlt. THACKEK'S CHALLENGE. "All along," said Dr. Thacker to a "Times" reporter, "they retreated behind red tape. When Mr A. N..Polson gave evidence tlicv tried to clock it as not concerning .Canterbury. In Wellington Mr Poison was told by General Henderson to keep away from Dr. Thacker. '' I was out to prove that the men received anything but proper treatment from the medical boards, and lny complaints were proved right up to the hilt." , Dr.- Tliaeker would make no comment on the inquiry just concluded. "I have come to Wellington, lioT\e\ei, he declared emphatically, "and I throw down the gauntlet and challenge the Minister for Defence, his department and his officials and Ins red tape! I will fight out Ins inefficiency, his waste and the reason why he should retire from the National Government. We will let Wellington North be the arena of the contest of the battle, and if this battle does not come oft' then it will come off next general election! Mr Poison will be my man."

It is said that nearly 2500 cars wore imported by Java during twelve months 1015-16, most of which came from U.S.A. ' Diamonds exposed to radium become highly radio-active, and remain so for so "-oral years, according to an eminent scieiU'^t. The <Ynr Office, owing to the rise in freights, now import their own teas, placing orders directly with growers in India and Ceylon. A sergeant in the Chertsey Volunteers walked over fifty miles in a recent week between his home and headquarters to attend drills. Aeroplane manufacturers in New York arc employing women because they have been found to excel in making wings and wing surfaces of aeroplanes.

Tying knots in the handkerchief to jog one's memory had its origin in China thousands of years ago, before writing was invented in that country. The word Boche was tlic name of a famous French executioner, and the heads of his victims were gruesomely called after him. Pronounced "bosh."

As a protest against his neutral attitude, a win-the-war Italian in a Rome tramway-car recently cut off the flowing black beard of a Socialist deputy. Crass is fetching £10 an acre in midDevon. The Irish are the most moral nation in the world. The first photographs were taken in England in ISO 2. A fly buzzes its wings at the rate of :'52 times a sceond. Before the war Krupp's had 3500 .steam-engines, 1500 furnaces, 500 gigantic steam cranes, capable of lifting the biggest guns like tlio toys of a child, and 200 steam-hammers. Some bntterflcs lay over 100,000 eggs. An eagle can live 28 days without food. The Italian Boys' Brigades, which before the war numbered 00,000, now numbers 120,000, divided into 400 sections. They are doing excellent worlc at the front. A lady spectator present at the landing of tiie last returned soldiers, hoping to hear some particulars of the death of her son, of which she had been advised, received a shock when her son appeared before her. "My boy, my boy," she exclaimed, "they told me you were dead!" The mistake evidently occurred from the fact that two boys bore the same initial and surname.