INJURED SOLDIER

Wairarapa Times-Age, 15 October 1942, Page 4

INJURED SOLDIER

VOTED £5O BY POWER BOARD RECOGNITION OF BATTALION’S EFFORTS. IN EARTHQUAKE RESTORATION WORK. (“Times-Age” Special.) The unanimous decision to grant EoO to a soldier who received a serious knee injury while engaged, with othei soldiers, on restoration work shortly after the recent earthquake, was made at today's meeting of the Wairarapa Electric Power Board. The chairman, Mr A. C. Pearce, said that, in appreciation of the work carried out by a military battalion, the board had decided to set aside £5O for the purpose of acknowledging the soldiers’ work. One of the men had received a bad knee injury while on the job. Following a discussion with the commanding officer it was suggested that £25 be granted to the injured man, and the other £25 be spent on a suitably engraved trophy for competition in the battalion. Mr Pearce said it was only a suggestion, and as the board had to get rid of the other £25 he thought it was a good one. If the board had given the men £2 each they would have “blown it out.”

Mr C. R. Holmes said he thought £5 was plenty for a cup. He suggested the balance be given towards the band’s funds.

“I certainly do not agree with the chairman that the men would ‘blow it out’,” said Mr Colquhoun. “They deserved it in any case. Buying a trophy would be throwing the consumers’ money away. The trophy would be forgotten after the war, or as soon as the men went away from the district. Mr W. A. Tate: “It would be an absolute waste of money.’’

Mr N. C. C. Shepherd pointed out that the personnel of the camps was continually changed. In the past he knew of 15 to 20 trophies shelved away which had never been won outright. “I would Sooner see the amount to the boy increased and the rest given for patriotic purposes,” said Mr Tate.

After further discussion it was decided to make a straight-out grant of £5O to the irfjured soldier, it havingbeen stated that the other soldiers engaged on the job were in agreement with that course.