SPECIAL FORCE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23491, 31 October 1939, Page 9

SPECIAL FORCE

THE SECOND ECHELON OFFICERS APPOINTED FURTHER NAMES ANNOUNCED NORTHERN MILITARY DISTRICT The.names have been announced of additional officers from the northern military district who have been appointed to the second echelon of the special military force for service in New Zealand or overseas.

Major E. A. Harding has been appointed second-in-command of the 21st (Auckland) Infantry Battalion. Major S. J. Kelly, who was appointed to this battalion, lias been transferred to the 23rd (Canterburv-Otago) Battalion. Captain F. A. Sadler has also been appointed to the 21st Battalion: Other appointments arc:— Anti-tank Regiment, New Zealand Artillery.—Lieutenant T. J. CaslingCottle, Lieutenant F. I. Graham, Lieutenant W. Knox.

Anti-tank Company (infantry).— Captain H. C. Meilcle, Second-Lieut-enant B. R. Henderson, Second-Liout-enant H. H. W. Smith.

Divisional Cavalry .Regiment,— Lieutenant A. C. Atchison.

CONSCRIPTION FAVOURED | WEALTH AND MAN-POWER LABOUR COMMITTEE'S ACTION [by TELEGRAPH —Pit ESS association] DANNEVIRKE, Monday Tho Pahiatua electorate Labour Representation Committee supports compulsory service for the prosecution of the w,ar. against Nazi dictatorship and oppression, provided that universal conscription of wealth, as expressed in goods and services, precedes conscription of man-power. The branch also favours the taking over of the Bank of New Zealand by the State, paying the shareholders with Government bonds. DIET OF SOLDIERS NUTRITIONAL VIEWPOINT COMMITTEE TO INQUIRE [BY TELEGRAPH OWN CORRESPONDENT] WELLINGTON, Monday A special eoivmittee had been set up on the question of the feeding of the soldiers in camps, said the acting-Minis-ter of Health, Mr. Armstrong, at a public meeting held by the New Zealand •Women's Food Value League in the Town Hall, Wellington, to initiate a Feeding for Fitness Campaign. Three week:; ago the league carried these motions: "That a national Feeding for Fitness Campaign should be initiated as an essential war-time measure." "That the food supplied in military camps and the cooking thereof should be the subject of immediate investigation from a nutritional viewpoint." Mr. Armstrong said that the committee would present a report in respect of the soldiers' diet; how they "were being fed at present and how they should be fed, if change were required. This report might result in drastic alterations in the methods followed in the past—at least, he hoped so in respect of some of them.

ENGINEERING OFFICER ' APPOINTMENT TO COMMAND The appointment has been made of Lieutenant-Colonel F. P. Heath, of Otumoetai, Tauranga, to command the New Zealand Divisional Engineers in the special military force. Colonel Heath is a former officer of the Royal Engineers. COURSE AT TRENTHAM PARTY FROM HOPUHOPU A party of four officers and 16 other ranks from the Divisional Cavalry Regiment will leave Hopuhopu on Friday to undergo a signal course at Trentham. The course will last a fortnight. TRAINING EX-SOLDIERS WHANG ARE! ACTIVITY [from our own cokhkspondent] • AVHANGAT?EI, Monday At the usual fortnightly parade on Saturday evening of the ex-Service-men's Reserve in Whangarei, a number of the men of about 30 years of age, who had joined the Military Reserve, also paraded. These men all had previous training in the Territorials, but are now too old to , re-join this unit. It is proposed to train these men with the- ex-servicemen so that later they could form a senior platoon of the Territorials. In the training iiow carried out bv the'ex-servicemen, the men who served on machine-guns and trench mortars in the last war are continuing with this branch of training, while all the men are carrying through with a musketry course at the range. MAORI'BATTALION TE PFTvE ENLISTMENTS [rtv TKLKCUAPir —OW.V CORURSl'ONdent] TE PUKE, Monday Enlistments in To Puke for the Maori battalion total 27. Of this number four are from one family, the Tapsells, of Maketu. This family has a unique, record, as a total of 16 of them left New Zealand during\the last war, three being killed. NURSES VOLUNTEER WAIKATO HOSPITAL [FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT] BAMir/rON", Monday Fourteen sisters and most of the nurses on the staff of the Waikato Hospital; who are ■■eligible' for service in the New Zealand Nursing Servit-e. have volunteered for war work with the New Zealand forces. One sister is already at the Hopuhopu camp hospital under a temporary appointment.