OVERSEAS SERVICE

Greymouth Evening Star, 5 December 1940, Page 5

OVERSEAS SERVICE

MR. SEMPLE’S STATEMENT. [per press association.] WELLINGTON, December 4. The Minister for National Service (Mr. Semple) made a statement today clarifying the position which may arise in certain circumstances after the gazetting of the names of men drawn for overseas service. He said a great deal of correspondence had been received from men who had enlisted in the Royal New Zealand Air Force, inquiring what they should do if drawn in the ballot. i The position is that any reservist called up in the ballot who has also lodged an application for service with the Royal New Zealand Air Force, and is awaiting a decision in regard thereto, is requested to notify the Air Secretary, Wellington, and the Army Area Office, should he desire to proceed with such application, in lieu of undertaking Army service. Reservists are required to indicate their service preference within seven days of receipt of their calling up notice. ■ “Reservists who have not made application for Air Force service are being given an opportunity of applying for certain positions in the Royal New Zealand Air Force and the Fleet Air Arm, provided they possess the qualifications required. Full particulars, together with a form of application, are being forwarded to each reservist called in the ballot. The Air Secretary~will investigate all existing and new applications of reservists desiring service with the Royal New Zealand Air Force or the Fleet Air Arm, and will advise the Army Area Office and the reservist of the decision. Those provisionally selected will appear before the requisite selection and medical boards, and eventually posted for service in the appropriate branch if they reach the required standard. This opportunity of optional service with the Royal New Zealand Air Force to balloted reservists is not a replacement of the present voluntary system for the Air Force, which is available at any time to suitable applicants. “Appeals against overseas service, which must be lodged by December 14, will be heard by appeal boards shortly to be appointed, not by the Manpower Committees as for territorials. Appeals must be sent in the first instance to the Director of National Service. They may be accompanied by documentary evidence or a statement of the facts. Further evidence may also be forwarded after lodging the appeal. “Appeals already lodged against territorial service will not serve as an appeal against overseas service. If a postponement of overseas service is desired, a separate appeal must be lodged. If a territorial appeal has not been heard, or has been heard and granted, no further action will be taken in respect to such appeal. If, however, an appeal is made against overseas service, and postponement of such service is allowed, the Appeal Board may direct the appellant to undergo territorial training until such time as he is required for service with the expeditionary force.”

MARRIED MEN AND WIDOWERS. I WELLINGTON, December 5. Mr. Semple, to-day, made a statement clarifying two popular .misunderstandings regarding the position of married men and widowers in the General Reserve. He said it appeared to generally known that men married on or after May 1, 1940, were deemed unmarried for the purposes of the regulations, so long as they have no children, but many reservists were not clear on what happens on the birth of a child of such marriages. “A man drawn in the ballot was deemed transferred to the armed forces on the day following publication of his name in the Gazette, therefore if he were properly gazetted, as a first division reservist, the subsequent birth of a child would not divest him of liability for service, which he had already incurred. In other words, if he is childless on the day of the Gazette notice, then he is a member of the armed forces, and ■will not be discharged solely on account of the birth of a child. If, however, he was first drawn in the Territorial ballot, and a child was afterwards born, he will be excluded from any subsequent first division overseas ballot.” Mr. Semple explained that contrary to what is sometimes believed, widowers were not transferred from the Second to the First Division of the reserve on the attainment of a certain age by his child or youngest child. It followed that a widower with a child of any age was in the second division.