LOSS TO SOLDIERS

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20634, 14 August 1941, Page 3

LOSS TO SOLDIERS

TWO DAYS OF LEAVE FERRY SPACE BOOKED CIVILIAN PASSENGERS (Per Press Association.) CHRISTCHURCH, this day. A complaint that several hundred South Island soldiers will lose two days of their present leave because civilians have booked all the berths on the steamer express leaving Lyttelton the night before the men arcdue back at Trentham on August 22. was made to The Press to-day by u Canterbury sergeant. He said that all South Island draft, had been instructed to return to Wellington by a special ferry steame: which would make a daylight trip on August 20. This has caused intense dissatisfaction among the soldiers. The sergeant added that the reason given was that alternative accommodation would not be available later. As the men were not due back in camp until the night of August 22, this meant that they would have to spend two days of their leave in Wellington instead of being able to leave Lytelton on the night of August 21 by the ordinary steamer express. He and other soldiers thought it was not fair that civilians should come before soldiers. Those men training in the North Island camps whose homes were in the South Island naturally wished to spend as much of their leave as possible with their families.

While in Wellington, the sergeant communicated with the office of the Minister of Defence, the Hon. F. Jones, and was told by liis secretary that it was impossible to make alternative arrangements. The sergeant also referred the matter to the Leader of the Opposition, Mr. S. G. Holland.