SOLDIERS' COMMISSIONS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 16435, 11 January 1917, Page 6

SOLDIERS' COMMISSIONS.

ATTENTION TO COMPLAINTS. STATEMENT BY MR. MASSEY. During his visit to the western front last year, the attention of Mr. C. J. Parr, M.P., was drawn to the fact that many non-commissioned officers who had w*» service in Gallipoli ai.J Egypt as well as in France were being overlooked in th» granting of commissions. "For instance," says Mr. Parr, " I found three sergeants in the trenches who had been through ' Gallipoli, and had served three months in the trenches in France, each of whom appeared fully fitted to have received a commission, yet they had been entirely overlooked. I felt so strongly the injustice of this that I both cabled and wrote to Mr. Massey upon the subject." Mr. Parr has received the following letter from the Prime Minister in reply: "I quite sympathise with what yon say in regard to the question of promotion to commissions, and this matter has been engaging my attention during my visit to England. I have already conferred with Generals Godiey and Richardson upon the matter, I believe that as a result something will be done at once to do away with the grounds for complaint which existed. The question, though by no means an easy one, is not insolvable, and I believe that cases such as you mentioned may easily be dealt with upon fair methods." "I have reason to believe," says Mr. Parr, " that all three of those sergeants to whom I have referred have since the visit of the Parliamentary party received their commissions."