KIT GRIEVANCE

Evening Post, Volume CXXXI, Issue 127, 31 May 1941, Page 10

KIT GRIEVANCE

CHARGE FOR WEAR

FIJI MEN'S ALLEGATION

(P.A.)

• AUCKLAND, May 30,

Support for complaints made by members of the New Zealand Forces in Fiji that they had been charged with the cost of clothing was given by a party of nine men who produced their paybooks showing red ink debit entries and gave their version of the procedure.

They said that towards the end of January or at the beginning of February they had been told to check over their kit and parade at th/; ordnance store to draw replacements. Some men needed new shirts, some required new boots, others socks. When they were handed the equivalent articles they proffered their worn-out goods to the ordnance staff, who told them they were not wanted, and to get rid of them any way they could.

"We heard no more about the matter till three months later, when we were on the eve of embarking for New Zealand," their spokesman said. "Then we were told that we would have to pay for the articles which had been given us to replace our worn-out stuff. We protested, but it was' no use, because we were told that if we did not sign a kit deficiency form and hand in our paybooks to have the items debited against us we would not be allowed to embark. Our officers could not do anything in the matter, and there it rests.

"In the meantime the cost to each individual is not much, but we feel we should support the protest which has been made, if only for the sake of the men still there, and who may be similarly treated. Quite definitely, though our paybooks show the entries as being for kit deficiencies and we have signed a kit deficiency form, these articles were not short in our kit.

"We admit that if a man loses some portion of his equipment or clothing by carelessness he should pay for it, but there was nothing of the sort in this case. Our shirts, socks, and underclothes were definitely worn out, as it will be understood they soon would be, since in a climate like that of Fiji they must be washed almost every day. We always understood that the Army would replace anything that had had fair wear and tear, but that has not happened to us."

The soldiers could not say whether they had been charged the cost as for new articles or on a scale which gives each article a diminishing value according to the period of use in its accepted life.