SOLDIERS AS SHUTTLECOCKS

Evening Star, Issue 25770, 17 April 1946, Page 10

SOLDIERS AS SHUTTLECOCKS

UNIFORMS WORN AFTER DISCHARGE ARMY AND POLICE AT LOGGERHEADS (N.Z.P.A. Special Aust. Correspondent.) (llec. 8 a.m.) SYDNEY, April 16. Discharged servicemen who find it impossible to get civilian suits are at a loss to understand their position when forced to wear uniforms in everyday life. Last December the Minister tor the Army, Mr F,. M. Forde, announced that discharged soldiers who were unable to buy suits would be allowed to wear their uniforms for six months. The Army authorities state that many men who applied and proved that they were unable to obtain other clothing were issued witli permits. These permits are still being issued, and the demand for them is great. The police view, however, is that the Army Act forbids the wearing of a uniform and badges after discharge. This was the position before the war, and so far as the police are concerned there is nothing on the books to alter the situation. Matters came to a head recently when a man charged by the police with illegally wearing a uniform was fined Is in the Central Police Court by a sympathetic magistrate. In his remarks to the defendant the magistrate said that if he continued to wear the uniform the buttons and badges must be removedMany servicemen troubled by clothes shortages heaved a sigh of relief at this decision, and all was well until the Army Department issued a counterblast. " When discharged men wear a uniform they should wear it complete with buttons., badges, unit patches, and decorations, and treat it with the respect that its history and traditions demand," said an Army spokesman. Apparently if this is done a discharged soldier is safe from everybody but the police. Constables will continue to enforce the existing law unless the ex-soldier concerned can produce Army authority. Even with a permit in his pocket, tie may not be safe, for it is questionable whether the Army Department can so arbitrarily dispose of the Defence Act. The police hold that once a soldier is marched out of the Army he becomes a discharged serviceman, and so cannot wear a uniform. The Supply Department has added to the ex-servicemen's confusion ;uid growing annoyance by stating tfiat Sydney outfitters have ample stocks of slacks and sports coats to allow all servicemen to wear civilian clothes unmediately on discharge. Inquiries at shops and closing manufacturers' Demises reveal that that is not the case. The quarterly quota of 300 stock size suits delivered at one shop yesterday lasted exactly four hours. Men who are not stock sizes have two alternatives. They can either get a cheap suit after a wait of three months or a better quality one in a matter of six to flight months' time. This is one reason why the cold and rainy weather which spt in two days ago has filled Syd'iey streets with well-worn slouch hats and military greatcoats bearing marks of past campaigns.