REGIMENT LOSES 13 N.C.O.’S

Press, Volume XCIV, Issue 28154, 18 December 1956, Page 7

REGIMENT LOSES 13 N.C.O.’S

OFFER OF DEMOTION ACCEPTED (New Zealand Press Association) GREYMOUTH, December 17. The Greymouth company of the Nelson-Marlborough-West Coast Regiment now has 13 fewer non-commis-sioned officers than it had last week. At a parade on Saturday, 13 out of 16. who were invited to either turn in their stripes or to recognise their rank and the responsibilities attached to it, accepted the former course. Promotion Resisted This development followed a period of apparent resistance by some of the N.C.O.’s to accepting promotion. Captain R. F. Woodward, the officer commanding the company, said this morning that many of the N.C.O.’s who were appointed before his arrival here, would not wear their rank. At the last parade, he said, a new platoon commander had been unable to find an N.C.0.. No-one would admit to being the holder of stripes, and no-one would help him or do anything. As a result, after a 15-minute lecture on Saturday, the 16 N.C.O.’s concerned had been given the opportunity of getting out. “If they do not want to be N.C.O.’s we do not want them,” he said. The company now had a loyal band of N.C.O.’s and while they might be few in numbers, about a dozen or so, this was much better than the previous situation in which there had been an absence of co-operation. If the stripes had not been handed in by some, they would have been taken off them in any case, he said, adding that a number were due to complete their period of training shortly.