MILITARY DISCIPLINE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24737, 14 October 1941, Page 8

MILITARY DISCIPLINE

A remarkable situation developed at a regional conference of Returned Soldiers' Association delegates held in Gisborne, when delegates found themselves unable to discuss the constitution of the Home Guard because all but two or three were members of military units and thus amenable to military discipline. The president of the conference, Lieutenant-colonel.R. F. Gambrill, said that under the regulations no member of a military unit, or anyone who had taken the oath of military service, could discuss such a topic in public. His own position as group director of the Home Guard made it necessary for him to state that he could not take part in any such discussion, or even preside over the discussion. " This disability affects most of us here, 1 think," the president added. "This gathering represents a cross-section of the returned men throughout the Gisborne and East Coast district, and, as might be expected, almost every one of us here is engaged in some form of auxiliary service. Practically the full strength of the conference is amenable to military discipline, and any opinion they might entertain on such topics as the Home Guard must remain their private opinions."