COURT-MARTIAL.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 1735, 29 September 1917, Page 3

COURT-MARTIAL.

In Feathers ton Military Camp considerable interest attaches to a court-martial which was opened there on Thursday morning. The case has’ arisen out of a statement made by Private 11. 11. Thompson, formerly an insurance agent in Wanganui, containing an. accusation that Dr. Hotop, of Feathcrston Camp, was while examining Thompson, under the influence of alcohol. Thompson is now being tried for knowingly making a false statement affecting the character of an ollicer. The statement made hy Thompson was contained in a letter written by him to the camp authorities. The statement is;— No medical examination of me is of any value when either examiner is noticeably under the influence of alcoholic liquor. This was so in the case of the examiner reporting on me on August Bth. The members of the Medical Board gave evidence totally denying the charge. Thompson, in his evidence,, said when he went before the Medical Board ho intended to ask a question, but Hot op asked, “Why are you not at the front ?” He replied, “Because lam unfit.” Hot op asked how he knew. He replied, “By reference to the file of the Records Office.” Hotop asked what right he had to see the tiles. He replied that he worked at the Records Oiticc, and handled the tiles. Thompson said he then asked why he had been boarded. Hotop said ho did not know, and even it he did .1 hompson had no right to know. Thompson insisted that he had a right to know, and (Major Robertson gave him the reason. Corporal Walker deposed that when in the Board room he thought Hotop was under the influence of liquor. When asked if he would persist in that belief in the face of the evidence of three doctors that Holop was sober and normal, he said “No.”

Accused's counsel and the prosecutor addressed the court, which then closed.