TROOPS ABROAD IN GOOD HEALTH

Dominion, Volume 33, Issue 146, 15 March 1940, Page 8

TROOPS ABROAD IN GOOD HEALTH

Talk Of Much Sickness Denied MINISTER CASTIGATES RUMOUR-MON GERS (By Telegraph—Press Association.) DUNEDIN, March 14. An emphatic denial of rumours that a high percentage of men of the First Echelon are being returned to New Zealand as medically unlit, was given by the Minister of Defence, .Mr. Jones, when discussing the health of the troops, in an interview today. Statements that were being made were evidently part of a planned whispering campaign, Mr. Jones said, but fortunately it was possible to state on the authority of MajorGeneral Freyberg that the troops in Egypt were in excellent health. “Rumour-mongers are whispering that the number of men being returned to New Zealand as medically unfit has reached alarmingly high figures,” the Minister said, “and I, therefore, hasten to deny these statements, which seem to bo circulated deliberately with the object of causing public concern. “Individuals who spread rumours of this nature are beneath contempt, and I would ask the people of New Zealand, in all sincerity, to decline to listen to any such statements, which evidently emanate as part of a planned whispering campaign.” Mr. Jones said he felt sure the public would take warning, should any similarly contemptible methods be used in future. In actual fact the number of men invalided out of the First Echelon through sickness or normal causes was remarkably few, and he had been advised by the DirectorGeneral of Medical Services, Colonel F. T. Bowerbank, that the percentage of sickness was considerably below that normally provided for in the •Army, and indeed was also below the ratio operating in civil life. “In order to reassure the people of New* Zealand concerning the health of their relatives and friends now in Egypt,” the Minister said, “I cabled Major-General Freyberg staling the rumour I have mentioned was being circulated.

“His reply reads as follows: Rumour absolutely without foundation. Health of troops excellent..

“It is hoped,” Mr. Jones said in conclusion, “that those responsible for originating and circulating the rumour will appreciate the fact that they fully deserve the contempt of every decentminded citizen of this country.”