THE MAIN BODY MEN.

Taranaki Daily News, 23 January 1918, Page 3

THE MAIN BODY MEN.

THE CSOVERXMEXT'S SCURVY TREATMENT (From Our Own Correspondent}. Wellington, .lan. 2IJ Complaints are coining from various parts of the country regarding the treatment of a few Main Body men who have come to New Zealand on special leave, granted them tor urgent domestic or business reasons, anil w'ho have bein granted leave without pay. It i s pointed out that these men have served for over three years, that they nearly all have.dependents to support and they cannot earn money while they are in uniform. Tiicv naturally feel aggrieved when tlic-v find that they are expected to take their brief holiday at their own expense. The official explanation, your correspondent gathered, is that the Pay Department has been instructed from Delenci! Headquarters to place these returned men on the same footing as recruits who obtain privilege leave from .the training camps lor private reasons. A recruit who gets permission to go home for a week or two in the course of his training receives no pay during the period. So* the Defence mind has decided that the returned Main Body man, since he has eotne back at his own request for private reasons, must do without pay until lie re-embarks. But the Main Body men were not told at the ironv when they were invited to apply for special leave that their pay wouid be docked, and they can hardly have been expected to guess that the authorities would effect this petty little economy at tlieir oxpense.