"NOT WANTED."

Auckland Star, Volume XLVII, Issue 156, 1 July 1916, Page 5

"NOT WANTED."

■-*■ — «,- v TREATMENT OF SUKPLTJS RECRUITS. MINISTER AND OFFICIALS CRITICISED. I STRONG ARGUMENT FOR LOCAL CAMPS. • (By Telegraph.—Parlianisntsry Rerorter.) ' ■ i WELLINGTON. Friday."* Dr. Thacker talked severely in the cl House of Representatives this afternoon « about x the methods of the Defence De- n partment in dealing with recruits for re- w inforcements. and the cavalier way in U which surplus men wore treated. He » contended that the chief military officers, s or whoever else was responsible, should he discharged for sheer incompetently, £ Tlie last reinforcements draft from Canterbury, when it was on the point of r leaving for Wellington, was found to c have "a. surplus of 49 men. The mili- <! tary officers coolly declined to allow the a surplus to leave, "and callou-sly informed the 40 men that they would not be allowed to board the vessel at Lyttelton. These men had given up their civil emIployment at the call of the Department, and were practically left stranded ;n many cases, or to return home disgusted and "discontented their treatment. The Minister had been crying out for men. yet thts sort of thing had been going on all over the country, the resuit being that a large number of men had been lost as recruits, while their experience had prevented a number of others from enlisting. He had contended that local camps 'would have obviated such a state of affairs. , A MINISTERIAL ANSWER. In this last instance. y continued Dr. ' Thaeker. the Minister, vrlio had been i threatening men with compulsion if - they did not volunteer for war service, 1 replied to the Mayor of Christchurch - when a message was sent, asking him if room could not be found for these 4!) • men in the camp: "I cannot overcrowd t the camps at this time of the year." 1 There was an answer! Mr. Wilford: Or.<? of h:s .sympathetic 8 replies. i Dr. Thacker: One of his incapable n replies. The member wens on to ask t what had been done last year when men were rammed into camp on top g of measles and cerebo-spinal meningitis it Again, he contended that a barracks "- should have been erected in Wellington if to accommodate men passing through '- and coming out of camps on short leave a and for various reasons. Men had to •t sleep often in the very streets and ap--0 peal to the police for shelter. It was all very well for the Minister to boast about having "delivered the goods:' but what about the goods that had been broken >. in transit and in the making? (Hear, hear.) LOCAL CAMPS THE REMEDY. Mr. Witty also condemned the attitude of the military authorities in setting their faces obstinately against local camps. Mr. Payne: Notwithstanding all the talk by " our Brigadier-General about the blood of men being on our heads if they went to Egypt without proper training, I still believe receiving camps i 0" should "be established at the district ld centres. The member.for Grey Lynn er pointed out that many men had beer deferred until their last few pounds wert **' exhausted, and then returned to th< in back blocks with feelings not at all con °h ducive to the furtherance of the recruiting movements. He contended there hac been a grave mistake in not acceptinj men and putting ihern into receivim camp 3 for preliminary training until th< authorities were ready to take then into the main camp.