PROTECTING SOLDIERS.

Lake County Press, Issue 2789, 12 June 1919, Page 5

PROTECTING SOLDIERS.

The New Regulations.

Borne time after the declaration of •war it was found necessary to make provision by War Regulations protecting men joining the Expeditionry Forces, and those who had already ioined those forces from undue pressure by creditors. In July. 1916, the first regulations on the subject were gazetted making provision that soldiers might not be arrested or proceeded against under certain statutes without the previous consent of a military authority. When compulsory enlistment became law in 1916, it was found necessary to extend the scope of the protection. More recently the position of tne men who have been discharged from the Expeditionary Forces and thereby placed beyond the limits of the protection demanded consideration. It bad been represented to the Government that banks and large trading concerns were in moat cases required by their respective constitutions to advance only unon unrestricted security. To meet such cases the amending regulations of June 2 have been gazetted enabling the process to be pursued by that class without the consent of the AttorneyGeneral, where the proceedings are to secure the balance of a trading account current. The following classes of soldiers and discharged soldiers are protected by regulations from process without the consent of the AttorneyGeneral, bub only for the periods here defined •—(1) A soldier who is still a member of the Expeditionary Force is protected until his discharge and for

12 mouths thereafter; (2) a discharged soldier is protected for 12 months from the date of his discharge but no longer. The protection applies in respect to the debts of the soldier incurred after, as well as before his discharge ; (3) an assisted discharged soldier, that is a discharged soldier who is indebted to the Grown in respect of a loan granted him under the Discharged Soldiers’ Settlement Act or the Repatriation Act, is protected so long as his debt to the Grown remains unpaid.