TROOPS IN CAMP

Wairarapa Times-Age, 3 December 1940, Page 6

TROOPS IN CAMP

LEAVE FROM DECEMBER 28

STATEMENT BY MINISTER. COMPLETION OF TERRITORIAL TRAINING. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) WELLINGTON, This Day. All troops now m camp will disperse on December 28 according to a statement made by the Minister of Defence (Mr. Jones) in reply to a point raised by a correspondent in a letter to the editor of a Wellington paper. This, the Minister points out, will allow the men to reach their homes for the usual family reunions that take place during the holiday season. The Minister pointed out that units of the Territorial Force now under training in camp were called up for three months from October 1, and therefore should remain in camp until December 31. If they were released from the camps before Christmas, the training period would be foreshortened, and this would adversely affect the progressive training programme, which culminated in brigade training. However it had now been decided that all troops should disperse from the camps on December 28. The Minister also announced that arrangements had been made which it was expected would enable the medical examination of the majority of the men receiving invalid’s benefits or war disablement pensions who had been called up in the ballot, to be dispensed with. A special medical board would examine the files of such men, and, except in special cases, their fitness for military service would be determined without their being examined. Pensioners who had not already, been examined should advise the Army if they were called for service.