MEDICAL BOARDS

New Zealand Times, Volume XLIII, Issue 9869, 15 January 1918, Page 5

MEDICAL BOARDS

THE CASE OF A BUGLER

PRESIDENT OF COURT REPRIMANDS DR THACKER. Press A«so<s>ation. CHRISTCHURCH, January 14. The Court of Inquiry convened to investigate the charges made by Dr Thacker and others regarding tho conduct of members of the -Military Medical Boards which have done duty in the Canterbury district, continued its sitting to-day. Major Loach presiding. When tho case of Bugler William Horace Bujrows was called on. Dr Thacker produced a certificate saying that ho was too ill to attend. Ihe oourt conferred, and decided that the medical members of the court shoula examine Burrows. After an adjournment, the officers reported that Burrows had sufficiently recovered to attend* tho court, or give evidence at his home, and the court adjourned thereto. In a statement on oath, Burrows said that ho enlisted voluntarily, and went into camp with the 24th Reinforcements, on January sth last year. On the 25th ho was granted five days’ sick leave, and on tho last day of his leave he went to Lieutenant-Colonel MacGlbbon, Assistant-Director of Medical Services, Canterbury, who said: “Oh, what’s the matter with you? Have you got tired of it?” Witness told' him that he was going hack to camp that night, but wanted him to examine his chest. Mac Gibbon did so, and gave him four extra days' leave. At its expiration, witness consulted Dr Thacker, who examined him. Witness was told that his left side had suffered from pleurisy in the past, and that he was threatened with sudden breakdown and an attack of phthisis. Dr Thacker gave him a certificate to Sur-geon-General Henderson, who said he should not have been passed, and gave him a letter for the Commandant at Aiwapuni Camp, recommending hia immediate discharge. Witness went before a medical , board, but no action was taken. He was again taken ill in chnrp, and told to' report to Colonel Fyffe for treatment. On reaching Wellington he communicated with Colonel Fyffe, hut ho said he had no word from Awapuni about witness, and oouid not see him that day as he was off duly. Being almost penniless, ho accepted a loan from a stranger, and came on to Christchurch, arriving on Sunday, March 11th. The next day he saw Dr Thacker, and reported to headquarters, being told by Captain Northcote that ho would be treat, ed as a deserter. Ho was arrested on May 10th as a deserter, and lodged in. the harness-roam at the barracks, being subsequently taken to Lieuten-ant-Colonel Mac Gibbon, who let him out on condition that ho did not go near Dr Thacker. Witness promised not to, but broke his promise,' with the result that ho was treated as a criminal. On tie Monday he was reported ffiy Dr Blackmore as fit to travel, and left for Wellington that night under escort. Before deporting, Lieu-tenant-Colonel Mac Gibbon said to him: “You are Agoing to be put out of tho Army altogether, and do not led. mo hear any more of , this Thacker business. He has been writing to headquarters in Wellington and kicking up a devil of a row.” Witness was in the military ward in the Wellington Hospital for a fortnight, and was then taken to camp and charged with desertion, tho charge being dismissed. Finally, he was put on leave without pay, and for four or five months had been a charge upon his friends and relatives. Witness was cross-examined at length by the representative of the Defence Department and Mr Acland (counsel for Lioutenant-Colonel . MacGibbon), In rebuttal, evidence was given that Burrows was released from military detention in Christchurch on Lieu-tenant-Coionel Mac Gibbon’s orders,, and was not insulted by Mac Gibbon. Tho president (to Dr Thacker, who had inquired of a witness if the detentjion cell had been a harness-room): “I give you fair warning that, I will close the inquiry if you go on with questions regarding the detention cell, "ou are doing nothing here but acting a piece ,of buffoonery, and you are simply playing to the gallery.” Lioutenant-Colonel Mac Gibbon deposed that he had never insulted Burrows or threatened him with solitary confinement. He may have told him not to visit Dr Thacker, which he was perfectly justified in doing. The court adjourned till to-mor-row.