HISTORY SHEETS OF SOLDIERS.

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 16208, 10 May 1918, Page 8

HISTORY SHEETS OF SOLDIERS.

CO3EPLAINT BEFORE DEFENCE

commission.

(SPECIAL TO "THE PRESS. 1 ')

WELLINGTON, May 9

One of the points brought out in evidence befora the Defence Expenditure Commission to-day may be of some importance to reservists in camp, or about to go into camp.

Lieutenant-Colonel T. V. McDonald said that the-, present method of filling in the military history sheets of soldiers was contrary to the King's regulations, and contraiy to law. he said that in j the Base Records office there was a staff I of about 50 girls wno were engaged, in I the compilation of these sheets, and j it was their duty at present to laboriJ ously copy on to the sneet of every man j entries respecting every military crime , of which a man migut oe convicted duri ing his period of service. Colonel McDonald declared that this wa3 highly I improper, and it could never be done in ; base records were they in control of paople with any military knowledge, a qualification which was Very necessary in running a records branch. No such record of military offences should be made on the military history sheet of any man, for this would perpetuate the record and make it part of a man's permanent file. Entries of this kind should be made on a man's conduct sheet, but these documents were highly confidential in a' proper organisation, and no person other than the company commander or the battalion commander was permitted to make an entry on one of tbpm. They were never available for perusal for any purpose by other persons. It was considered that a | man made most of his offences against military 'rules through lack of knowledge in the early period of his service. After that if a man were convicted of a "cjime," the record remained, but if he had two years of good conduct he was entitled to have his sheet destroyed. It was therefore highly improper, Colonel McDonald said, that information about the offences a man misht Commit sbou'd be published amon? a lot of girl clerks and made part of the permanent file of a man in the service. He expressed the opinion that any man who wished to do so might by recourse to law compcl the authorities to delete records of punishments from his military history sheet.