FIJI CONTINGENT NOT NEEDED OVERSEAS

Dominion, Volume 33, Issue 239, 4 July 1940, Page 3

FIJI CONTINGENT NOT NEEDED OVERSEAS

Service In The Colony

MALES OF MILITARY AGE CALLED UP

An unfavourable reply has been received from the Secretary of State for the Colonies to the request that a Fiji Contingent be sent to the war. In his reply to his Excellency the Governor, the Secretary says that there is no difficulty in obtaining all the men’that are ‘required to ‘be equipped and absorbed in the fighting services, and in these manpower circumstances it would be against public interest to deplete the manpower of the colony by letting a contingent leave the country. He advised the local forces that they fulfil essential purposes of defence, including discouragement of potential raiders, see to internal security, and train reinforcements when required. All male persons between tbe ages of 18 to 36 years have been called up for military service, and will undergo a minimum period of three months in camp. The Suva Battery of the Defence Force has also been called out for active service and members must attend at such places.and times as the commandant may direct.

Among the many men who have left the colony to join up with the Australian or New Zealand Forces is Lieu-tenant-Colonel Clive Brewster, who left recently to join the Royal Australian Air Force. Messrs. W. R. Carpenter and Company (Fiji), Limited, of which company he is chairman of directors, has granted him leave of absence tor tbe duration of the war. Lieutenant-Colonel Brewster served in the 1914-18 war, first, in the Australian Light Horse, and later in Hie Royal Flying Corps and Royal Air Force. He had a distinguished career as a pilot, having shot down five enemy machines, was mentioned in dispatches, awarded Hie Military Cross, and became a flight commander. LieutenantColonel Brewster lias been a keen member of the Fiji Defence Force, and on the outbreak of war, was appointed to the command of the Ist Fiji Battalion.