"REQUEST HOUR"

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue 169, 19 July 1943, Page 4

"REQUEST HOUR"

CAMP INNOVATION

SOLDIERS AND OFFICERS (0.C.) WELLINGTON, this day. Regular opportunities for men in the ranks of the New Zealand Military Forces to discuss informally with their officers grievances and problems that may arise are provided by the institution in all units of "request hours." During these periods the men will have direct access to their officers without being required to go through the usual official channels. The new plan applies to all mobilised units m New Zealand, including the Second New Expeditionary Force reinforcement drafts in training here. The "request hour" scheme closely follows a similar plan recently introduced in the British Army, and the New Zealand Army Headquarters instruction for the introduction of it in the Dominion quotes this Army Council instruction to the British Army:— , , "In most units the relations between officers and other ranks are such that any grievance or problem which is troubling any other rank is satisfactorily solved either through the normal channels for complaining laid down in the Army Act ... or by informal contact between the man concerned and his sub-unit commander.. "Occasionally, however, the frequent changes of officers and men and the dispersal of some units make it more difficult for officers and men to get to know each other as thoroughly and quickly as is desirable. In such cases other ranks are often at a loss when they do not wish to make a formal complaint, but to consult an officer informally on some matter. As a result a number of soldiers' difficulties which could and should be resolved within the unit are received in the War Office in the form of complaints through irregular channels. "In order to remedy this state of affairs, some units have instituted a weekly 'request hour,' i.e., an .hour during which an officer is available for informal consultation by other ranks. This system should be extended to all units. The exact method of carrying it out must rest with commanding officers. "So far as is possible the officer himself should deal with questions raised at a 'request hour,' but if. the matter is one which should be raised as a formal complaint—e.g., because it involves a complaint against another soldier or superior—he should tell the other rank that it must be so raised and (if necessary) explain the proper chanels; if it is a legal question, he should refer it to the unit's legal advice bureau, etc. . .