ALLEGED DESERTER.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 1605, 2 September 1916, Page 3

ALLEGED DESERTER.

PRISONER-OF-WAR IN GERMANY.

Some time 1 ago it was slated on the authority of the Prime Minister, that it had been reported that a member of the New Zealand .Expeditionary Forces had deserted to the enemy. Of late the rumour lias been circulated. that the man in question was Pte. W. P. Nimot, of the Ist Wellington Battalion, whose parents reside* at Carterton, and have resided there for many years. On Thursday the Minister of Defence (Hon. J. Allen) received official information that Pte. Nimot is, with five other New Zealanders, a prisoner-of-war at Dnlmp, Westphalia, Germany. The Minister has accordingly cabled Hume ordering a thorough investigation and a report. Speaking on the subject to a Post’ reporter yesterday, the Minister said the whole circumstances showed the necessity of (dose enquiry before passing judgment which might do an injustice to the soldier and his relatives. , He, therefore, considered that lie was quite justified in withholding the information until lie was certain of the facts. The case would be thoroughly investigated. Pte. Nimot’s parents had been bring in New Zealand as quiet, naturalised citizens for thirty-two years, and he had no reason to doubt their loyalty.