DIRECTOR OF MEDICAL SERVICES

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2523, 31 July 1915, Page 3

DIRECTOR OF MEDICAL SERVICES

PETITION PROM LIBUT.-COLONEL DELAUTOUK, A petition was presented in the House of Representatives on Wednesday by Dr. A.' K. Newman, ou behalf of Lieut-enant-'Colouel Harry A. do Lautour, V.D., in which petitioner .prayed for any relief that he might bo considered entitled to. Petitioner sot out that he joined the New Zealand Artillery ...Volunteers at Oainaru in 1875, , with tho rank of lion, assistant surgeon, and was promoted brigade surgeon lieutenant-colonel in 1895, and awarded the V.D. In 1879, in order to increase his special expert military knowledge, he obtained twelve months' leavo of abscnce, and proceeded to England at his own oxpenso. In October, 1897, he presented himself before the board for tho quarterly examination for volunteer medicaLofficers in England, _ and successfully passed the examination. He received a certificate of proficiency, which all Territorial medical officers are now required to hold. Ho wiis the first .New Zealand officer to hold this distinction". Desiring to further qualify himself'for the position of Director-General of the New Zealand Forcesj he was appointed, and acted for seven or eight months, as one of the inspecting and examining officers for volunteer forces in London. He returned to _ Now Zealand, and reported for duty iii 1898. In the same year he was promoted to tho position of 1'.M.0. for the Otago Military Dis-' trict. ■ In 1903 the position of geiieral became vacant, and, petitioner applied fortius. - . However, SurgeonMajor S. S. Skcrman was appointed, and when petitioner .protested agaiust being passed over by an officer ten' years junior to himself, he was informed that ho resided too far from Wellington; and also that Surgeon-Major Skcrman had seen active service in South Africa. M'licn the Surgeon-General resigned, petitioner, being then senior officer on the list, eight years senior to tho next officer (Lieutenant-Colonel tho Hon. Dr. W.E. Collins) expected to'bo communicated with and offered the position. Instead, however, SurgeonMajor J.: R. I'urdy, an officer twenty years junior to petitioner, without any war service or certificato of proficiency, was appointed acting-Director-General, with the temporary rank 'of colonel, in April, 1909. Petitioner complained to the Adjutant-General, Colonel H. D. Tuson, about being again passed over and superseded, especially by . such an inexperienced junior and untrained officer, and Colonel Tuson explained that the position was a temporary one only, and that it was necessary for. the Director to rosido in or near Wellington. Petitioner then left Dunedin and came to reside in Wellington, where he aih plied for the position. He was told fiom time to time that nothing would be done till later, jbut- in 1911- ho was informed that it had been decided to appoint Lieutenant-Colonel J. 11. Purdy as Director of Medical Services, on the grounds that lio liad been acting in tho position for nearly two years. ' Petitioner protested against tho appointment. and asked for a Court of Inquiry to investigate his claims, but this was .refused. Later petitioner reluctantly resigned.

Petitioner submitted that he was in every respect, b.y length of service, seniority, continuous and successful attention to his duties, special expert training and the possession of the Certificate of Proficiency from the "War Office, fully entitled and qualified to succeed Surgeon-General Sker'man in 1909, and that if these conditions had been properly recognised and the customs of the Imperial Service carried out, petitioner would now be deriving t'lio advantages, ciecl'tj emoluments and prestige that the appointment carried with it. Petitioner further submitted that by being superseded by an officer so junior to himself and without his oxpert training and experience, ho had suffered groat ignominy and disgraco. Petitioner had been forced to break up his hemp and sell his furnituro at a great sacrifice, and had been put to other serious pecuniary loss. . Moreover, in his efforts to obtain the appointment, lio had, by the unreasonable delay in making it, wasted soma two years .of