R.S.A. ACTION

Evening Post, Volume CXXXIII, Issue 136, 11 June 1942, Page 4

R.S.A. ACTION

DETENTION CAMP STUDIES

A decision to press for an undertaking from the registrar of the University of New Zealand and from the National Service Department that no facilities be afforded to defaulters and deserters either inside or outside ' detention camps or prisons was made at this week's meeting of the Dominion executive committee of the Returned Services' Association. Concern was expressed at a report that defaulters and deserters who were in detention camps were given facilities to study for university examinations and that arrangements may be made for them to sit for such examinations while under detention.

It was pointed out that this privilege would place a defaulter at a considerable advantage over a contemporary whose studies were' interrupted while he was loyally serving his country in the armed forces and who must necessarily wait until his discharge before he could sit for any university examinations. In view of the Government's present policy of not depriving such defaulters of their civil rights, the committee stated, it was felt that ex-servicemen would be placed at a disadvantage in embarking on a professional career after their discharge as compared with those who had refused to serve their country.