YOUTHS’ ARMY TRAINING

Press, Volume LXXXVII, Issue 26525, 13 September 1951, Page 3

YOUTHS’ ARMY TRAINING

TWO APPLICATIONS FOR DEFERMENT

UNIVERSITY STUDENT’S CASE

"The committee can give no decision on this application at the moment, because about 100 applications involving similar grounds for postponement of military service, will be dealt with by the committee in the next week or two. In general, the committee would like to say that the only grounds for postponement of service for students, are those of financial hardship, occasioned by the necessity of students to earn enough money in the off-season to keep" them at the university. The standards of hardship, however, will have to be pretty high.” Mr A. H. Cavell, chairman of the No. 13 Military Service Postponement Committee, made this statement yesterday, when commenting on an application for the indefinite postponement of military service by William Shirley Buxton, a student at Canterbury University College. The other members of the committee are Messrs R. H. Webb and C. Kelly. Mr N. R. Rawson was secretary. Mr J. Mcknight appeared for the Crown. The reasons Buxton gave for his application were that he had to finance himself at the university, and that it was necessary for him to earn all he could during the long vacation. The period of training would also conflict with part of the first term at the university, and he would miss lectures which he considered he could not afford to miss. He said he was a theological student, and intended entering the ministry of the Church of England- „ „ To a question from Mr Cavell, Buxton said his finances consisted of a boarding bursary from the Wellington diocese amounting to £lOO. He also received a bursary of £3O for his higher leaving certificate, and if he was obliged to enter camp he would receive £3O as Army pay. He would be able to earn a further £2O, making a total of £lBO. The application was stood down, to be considered with the others to be brought before the committee later.

Appeal For Apprentice An application for the indefinite postponement of service was made by Messrs Paynter and Hamilton, builders and timber merchants, for Stuart David Honeybone, an apprentice to the firm. Decision was reserved. Henry David Burt, accountant to the company, appeared in support of the application. The ground for the application was that the company was engaged in building 35 houses for the Defence Department at Burnham Military Camo, and it was being “chased along by the Defence Department and the Housing Department" to complete the job as soon as possible, said Mr Burt. It was exceedingly hard to get extra men for the jobs. Mr Burt said he estimated it would take about six months to have the buildings completed. Honeybone had been on the job all the time. Of the 11 men working on the project that morning, four were apprentices and the other seven were tradesmen. There were 36 carpenters engaged by the company, and 10 apprentices. To Mr McKnight, Mr Burt said Honevbone had been with the company for about two years. He was a very promising boy. Of the other apprentices employed by the company, three were in camp at the present time, two had been in camp and the other five, including Honeybone, were awaiting word to enter camp. The company intended to apply for a postponement for one other apprentice later. Mr Burt said that, if Honeybone missed the camp in January, he would be available for the May camp. He had no objection to having the period of postponement set at six months.