CORRESPONDENTS' VIEWS

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIII, Issue 235, 5 October 1942, Page 2

CORRESPONDENTS' VIEWS

APPEAL BOARD POWERS

(To the Editor.)

An interested spectator of rm*i ceedings before an Armed FonwS Appeal Board, within a radius A* $ forty miles of Auckland, I was m "J impressed by the courtesy and attention of members of the board to eiS,' case. Scarcely any body of »S V could have sought to give more nsT soned and dispassionate decisions* But —in some cases they are as a ' "battleship without, guns!" This £ so in those cases where men ar® already in the overseas forces. i» such cases where even no more thari temporary releases are sought tS '* board can no more than maU recommendation, on which thearniv can act or otherwise as it nloaiSE In one particular case, that ofa* application for the release of j» shearer —a much needed man—the army representative present bhinthr told farmers attending in support of the appeal for the shearer-soldiS that he could give them the annv? reply then and there. "The recom mendation of the board, just de! livered, would not be acted upon'" Just what authority he had tod o this I am not aware, but as a climax to the proceedings it takes some beating. As responsible men, ehaised with a responsible, arduous and tedious task, the men sitting on these boards should be given aU the power their position implies—the guns—and let them get pn with their job.' Decisions would tlen be fmmT diate, not problematical, nor insulted by instan: cancellation by some junior subaltern, whatever his »«• thority. TROOPER.