EFFICIENT OFFICER

Auckland Star, Volume LXXV, Issue 217, 13 September 1944, Page 8

EFFICIENT OFFICER

RETIREMENT SURPRISE SICK AND WOUNDED RECORDS

Much surprise and regret have been expressed at the retirement of Captain W. H. S. Gee, N.Z.T.S., who for three and a half years has been in charge of sick and wounded records at the Drill Hall, Auckland, and whose efficient and sympathetic administration has been greatly appreciated by returned men. A well-deserved tribute was paid to Captain Gee's worth by the City Council at its meeting last week and also by Mr. A. P. Postlewaite on behalf of the R.S.A., which has come into contact a good deal with the retiring officer in matters connected with the welfare and treatment of the sick and wounded.

As must inevitably, it seems, happen in the Services, the square peg in the round hole is characteristic, and time or experience seem never to be considered in affecting changes for the better, which makes it the more to be regretted that, where there is found the right man for the job, alterations should be affected for no apparent reason. So far, the favourite "health reasons" has not been advanced; it has not been stated that he is going to some other branch of Army service that would profit by his experience and ability; simply that a presumably fit, highly qualified and capable officer is being retired from a difficult position that he has filled over a period of years with the utmost satisfaction to the returned men and the public generally.

Captain Gee, who was commissioned from the Royal Military Academy in 1917, has seen service in Mesopotamia, Persia and the North-West Frontier and came to New Zealand on leaving the service in 1922. It is a pity that the reasons for his being retired have not been given by the Army authorities charged with the administration of this particular department of the Service.