PRIVATE SUES OFFICERS

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 8734, 16 May 1914, Page 14

PRIVATE SUES OFFICERS

COLONEL TO PAX £l2 DAMAGES IN STRANGE SWISS CASE. GENEVA, April IA strange military-civil lawsuit, which could not have taken place in any other country than Switzerland, came to a conclusion yesterday before the Civil Court of St. Gall, when Private Geiger was awarded £l2 damages against his commanding officer. Colons H. Stahel, while the other officers of his battalion, who were also defendants in the. case, were acquitted. Geiger, who is the proprietor of a vafo at Appenzell, should have served as a private in his battalion during the recent manoeuvres near his town, but somehow obtained leave. His officers, believing that he had acted from interested motives, issued an order to the men to boycott Geiger’s cafe during tbeir stay at Appenzell, as stated in a previous message. After the manoeuvres the private promptly brought a civil action against his officers for damages as a result of the boycott, claiming .£2OO. The command ing officer will have to pay the damages out of his own pocket. The newspapers are indignant at the verdict, which, they state, creates a dangerous precedent against discipline and authority in a citizen army where both are difficult to obtain. According to the Swiss law, however, when military service is finished officers and men alike be-, come civilians and equal.