LAW FOR SOLDIERS

Evening Post, Volume XCVI, Issue 137, 6 December 1918, Page 3

LAW FOR SOLDIERS

MILITARY HOSPITALS. Some of the provisions of the Expeditionary Forces Amendment Bill are reported under other headings in this issue. | Other sections provide that the period of military service is extended from six months to twelve months after the cessation of the war. Sir James Allen explained that six months would be inadequate to demobilise the troops. Members of the Expeditionary Force in time of peace are to be subject to I military law until discharged. The Governor-General may declare "any place or institution, or any part of an institution," to be a military hospital, with a. military superintendent having command over all persons undergoing treatment. The abolition of the Expeditionary Force Reserve is provided for, by proclamation of the Governor-General at any time. When the Bill was in Committee in # the House of Representatives yesterday, Mr. EH (Christchurch South) said that he bad heard serious charges about the treatment of returned soldiers in annexes of the Auckland Hospital. Those men, it was stated, received attention only after the doctors had treated private patients. The soldiers had every right to first consideration. He hoped that the Minister would make an investigation. Sir James Allen said that the epidemic had affected the situation in Auckland. He read a statement to the effect that the best attention possible in tho circumstances had been given to the soldier patiente in Auckland. Dr. Newman (Wellington East) said that military hospitals should be built near towns, not in remote localities where the men would be lonely and "out of sorts." Some men were turned out of hospitals too soon. Until men were restored to strength they should have only light work. The various clauses were passed in Committee.