LEAVE FROM CAMPS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 1762, 8 December 1917, Page 4

LEAVE FROM CAMPS.

TOO MANY APPLICATIONS. NEW INSTRUCTIONS ISSUED. The following instructions relative to leave from camp have been issued by the Minister of Defence (Sir James Allen): — “The withdrawal of men from the Expeditionary Force Training Camp has assumed such dimensions as to prejudicially affect the training of the men and the efficiency and due despatch of reinforcement drafts. This trouble is accentuated by the fact that the great majority of applications is from soldiers whose training Is almost completed, and who are upon the eye of embarkation. It cannot be too clearly understood and emphasised that once a man has entered into camp, Lis course of training, should not be disturbed ut a»v time, unless for the

most grave jind urgent reasons. His training is undertaken in the shortest possible time, and is based upon a definite syllabus, the omission of any' part of Avhich renders the individual, and consequently his company, less efficient than they might have been. It follows, therefore, that training should not be interfered with at any stage., Every reservist called,up for service has the right of appeal for exemption on any of the grounds laid down in the Military Service Act. His necessities should be thoroughly invistigated by the Military Service Board before he goes into camp, and not left ‘for consideration after he has commenced his training. This question of leave from camps has been recently under consideration, and it has been decided that applications by soldiers for leave up to fourteen days will be dealt with by the Camp Commandant in camp, and that applications for leave for over fourteen days will be referred by the camp authorities to the Third Wellington Military Service Board for decision. Many cases have arisen where men or their wives have applied for leave on account of approaching confinement. A recent conference of chairmen of Military Service Boards has affirmed the following as the principle on which they will act if such cases are brought before them. If the confinement is due while the soldier is undergoing training he may be granted fourteen days’ leave with pay for the event; if the confinement is due within two months of the date of departure of his reinforcement, he will be detained in the Dominion until after the event, and may be granted-fourteen days’ leave with pay for it. As confinement cases will be treated on this definite principle, it is considered unnecessary to refer applications of this kind to the Military Service Board; the Commandant will deal with these cases and will act in conformity with this principle upon the medical evidence which must be submitted in support of each case. “Applications arc of the following categories: — “(a). Application from the man himself in camp. The application must be made only on the form provided in camp, and must be transmitted through the camp authorities to the Military Service Board. The board will not consider any application through any other channel "whatsoever. No application from a soldier in the 33rd Reinforcements will be received after 10th December. “(b). Application from the employer. —Only the public interest can justify the release of a soldier from camp at the request of an employer, whether farmer, manufacturer, or otherwise. Recent events have shown unmistakably that the great majority of applications are by or on behalf of men engaged in the agricultural and pastoral industries. It can be taken for granted that the necessity for leave can be foreseen, and that there can be no hardship, therefore, in insisting that applications must be made two clear months before the soldier’s training ends. It is proposed to publish from time to time the last day on which applications will be received in respect of soldiers in a particular reinforcement. An exception' is made in respect of the 33rd Reinforcements. Applications for soldiers in this draft will not be considered if received later than 10th December. “It is quite anticipated that at any time before the sailing of a draft urgent cases may arise by reason of sudden emergency, such as death, serious illness, or some other cause which could not have been foreseen. These emergency applications will be received at any time, and, if urgency is established, will be considered.”