Military Detention

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 295, 16 May 1914, Page 5

Military Detention

1 IS IT A HOLIDAY AFFAIR? CONFLICTING STATEMENTS. By Telegraph—Press Association. Auckland, Last Night. About a fortnight ago two young men were fined £5 eaeli and costs at the Onehunga. Magistrate's Court for failing to attend military drill, with the alternative of 20 days' military detention in barracks at Devonport. Both refused to pay the fine, and yesterday morning presented themselves at the police station, and asked to be arrested. One of them said he was out of work, and the other intimated that he had left his employment rather than have his wages attached. Recently a young man returned from the marine suburb, and gave a glowing account of the treatment meted out to < military prisoners. According to his * statement, the detention was purely a ' holiday. The menu, he said, consisted ' of ham and eggs for breakfast, with the * best cuts of roast beef for dinner. As' ' for work, it was merely child's plav. , Now it seems that all persistent shirk- j ers have decided to become the guests ■ of the Government at Devonport. ' ! An emphatic denial tint the military prisoners had anything but an unpleasant time was given this morning by Captain Kcwish, who stated that the assertion that the convicted men preferred to go to gaol at Devonport rather than pay their fine was "aft ihumbug;' v "Our prisoners," he stated, "are treated r in almost the same way as arc convicts t in the gaols. They undergo hard labor, } ' and arc compelled to do ordinary drills. v As far as food is concerned, the daily * allowance amounts to 2s, and it is not P possible to live very high on that ? amount." J — —_____ *