SOLDIERS IN ENGLAND.

Taranaki Daily News, 19 September 1916, Page 7

SOLDIERS IN ENGLAND.

CAN TIIEY GET THEIR DISCHARGE? (From Our Own Correspondent). Wellington, September 13. "Will it be possible for a member o( the new Zealand Forces to get his discharge in England should he desire to remain there for a time after the war?" asks a correspondent. "Failing that would he 'be allowed to conic 'back by any route he pleased, if he paid his own expenses and undertook to report for duty in >Xew Zealand on a given date?" This question is interesting many members of the New Zealand Forces, both in Europe and in the training camps, at the present time, and representations have been made upon the subject to the Defence authorities. Hundreds of young New Zealauders, with substantial sums of deferred pay accumulating to their credit, would like to be allowed to sec something of the Motherland before they return to New Zealand at the close of the war, and they have asked if the proviso on their attestation papers, mentioning New Zeaalnd as the place of discharge, means that all men must return to the Dominion with t'heir units. The Defence Department has laid down rules peditionary Forces in England will not governing the question. from the New Zealand Exbe allowed except in very special cases," says the regulation. Before being discharged the applicant must comply with the following conditions:— (1) Show good reason why he should be discharged in England; (2) Be certified by a. medical board as unfit for further service; (3) Show that he is able to maintain himself; (4) Sign a document absolving the New Zealand Government from any liability ior his return passage to New Zealand." Naturally the Officer Commanding the Expeditionary Force, with w'hieli the Reinforcement drafts are incorporated, is allowed to exercise his discretion in matters of this kind, ami lie can take into "consideration the special circumstances of any application for discharge that may be placed before him. But the Defence authorities are setting their faces against discharges being granted outside the Dominion, f'he-e discharges are apt to produce complications with regard to pay and pensions, and in any case New Zealand needs to get back as many of her men as possible. Soldiers who have left wives in this country, or who have had maintenance orders issued against them, will not be discharged abroad under any conditions.