INTEREST IN ARMY

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 20907, 6 October 1942, Page 5

INTEREST IN ARMY

INFORMATION FOR PUBLIC The need for the public to be well informed about army matters was stressed by Lieutenant-General E. Puttiek, General Officer Commanding the New Zealand Forces, in addressing officer cadets who have completed their course of instruction in an antiaircraft wing of the school of artillery. General Puttiek said that although the public was greatly interested in the Army, it had no background of general knowledge of the things that mattered in the army. It was up to everybody in the army to make sure that there was no real ground for criticism, and he expressed the wish that newspapers would send representatives more often into the military camps to see what was being done, “Throughout . New Zealand,” he continued, “commanders have been instructed to make newspapermen welcome. One thing I have discovered about the Press of New Zealand is that if you take them into your confidence, and tell them about some subject that cannot be published, they will never let you down.” General Puttiek added that any expression of interest and appreciation by the public of the work of the forces was 'to the good. “We get a tremendous, lot of that,” he concluded, .“but the trouble is' it is not always as audible as adverse criticism.”