ARMY DEFAULTER

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25660, 7 October 1944, Page 6

ARMY DEFAULTER

NOW A DENTAL BURSAR PROTEST BY RETURNED SOLDIER (F.0.P.R.) WELLINGTON. Oct. 6. . As a protest against the award ot a dental bursary to a man who had served a term in gaol as a military defaulter, Mr W. A. Eodkin (Oppn. Central Otago), on behalf of the Opposition. moved in the House of Representatives to-day to have the Health Department vote reduced by £IOOO. A long and at times heated discussion took place before the vote was approved by 39 votes to 29. Before this discussion, Mr T. L. Macdonald (Oppn., Mataura), who opened the debate, was the central figure in a dramatic incident when he defied the ruling of the Chairman of Committees. Mr R. McKeen, and refused to withdraw a remark.

Mr Macdonald said that the bursary had been awarded when he was absent from the country and much about :t was new to him. He contended that the Government’s action in granting a dental bursary to a conscientious objector, who had also been a military defaulter, was a direct affront to every man serving overseas. The circumstances of the case called for the fullest investigation even now. Pertinent Questions

Mr Macdonald asked who allotted the medical and dental bursaries, what procedure was followed, and what inquiries were made about the applicants? ' Was it a fact that the Direc-tor-general of Health. Dr M. H. Watt, had said in a letter to someone that it became known to the Crown subsequent to the awarding of the bursary that the recipient had been in prison? Was the man’s release from the medical unit, to which he had gone after his release from prison, authorised by the Director of National Service or by an armed forces appeal board, and on what grounds? There did not appear to have been the careful inquiry there should have been into the applicant’s record, Mr Macdonald continued. It appeared that the individual in question would not have been a repentant defaulter had he not known that he was to be awarded a bursary. V/hen the returned soldiers, who were away overseas at the time, realised what had happened in their absence and that a man who was prepared to evade his military obligations had received a bursary they would be very much concerned indeed. A The Minister of Health, Mr A. H. Nordmeyer, said the question of the bursar concerned had been brought before the House by the Opposition twice previously last year. He had given an explanation which was fully reported. The subject had been flogged on those occasions. He did not resent the Opposition’s calling attention to the case, but he thought no good purpose could be served by keeping it going year after year. “ Unsatisfactory Explanation ”

Mr W. J. Poison (Oppn., Stratford): You gave no satisfactory explanation. I brought the matter up, and I ought to know. *

The Minister said that applications were called for medical and dental bursaries, and were dealt with by the Health Department, which forwarded its recommendations to himsslf as Minister, and he agreed to them. At the time the bursaries were granted the man concerned was a soldier.

“I said at the time that if I had known that he had been a military defaulter the bursary would not have been awarded,” said Mr Nordmeyer. “We did not deliberately make a rod for the Opposition to beat us with, and at the time the bursaries were granted I admit we did not have an opportunity to make all the inquiries about the applications that we would have liked.”

The only question outstanding, the Minister said, was whether the bursary should be canceled, but he took the view that, a bursary having been awarded, a contract had been entered into, and should not be upset. He knew nothing about the man’s political background • or anything else about him. The names came before him, and he simply concurred. The National Service Department was informed that certain merl had been awarded bursaries and they released them from camp. Mr W. S. Goosman (Oppn., Waikato): How many other soldiers were awarded bursaries? Record Unknown at Time The Minister: I cannot say offhand, but there were several. The man concerned was not awarded a bursary as a conscientious objector or a defaulter, but as a soldier. We did not know his history. No returned soldier was adversely affected by the award to this man.

Mr F. W. Doidge (Oppn., Tauranga) said the Minister’s explanation was entirely unsatisfactory. The Minister>did not explain the matter fully last year, but the Prime Minister, Mr Fraser, had promised that if a mistake had been made it would be rectified. It had not been .rectified. A real hero of this war, a man from Christchurch who had won the Military Cross and was an amputee, had hobbled to Wellington to see Mr M. Moohan, who was then chairman of the Rehabilitation Board, and had been pushed from pillar to post, between Wellington and Christchurch, for six months before he was awarded a bursary.

“It seems that somewhere behind the scenes fellow-feeling made someone wondrous kind to this defaulter,” said Mr Doidge. “ Not all the perfume of Arabia will cover the smell of this case.”

Mr W. A. Bodkin (Oppn., Central Otago) moved to have the vote reduced by £IOOO. He said he did this because he regarded the Minister’s explanation as completely unsatisfactory. A Christchurch boy had been sent cap in hand to Mr Moohan and had been buffeted all over the place, and yet when it came to the allocation of bursaries those who had friends behind the scenes could apparently get them. “In this case the authorities should have demanded evidence of good faith from this defaulter by sending him overseas to prove himself worthy of it,” said Mr Bodkin. “We are fighting for the .rights of servicemen and women, who have returned or will be returning.” Prime Minister Called to Order

The Prime Minister, Mr Fraser, said the member for Tauranga had made an innuendo that somewhere behind the scenes were people who used their position on behalf of the particular person concerned in the case. Mr Doidge: That is a fair interpretation of what I said. The Prime Minister said the bursaries were recommended by the chief medical and dental officers of the Health Department, both of whom had distinguished war records. It was unlikely that either would favour a military defaulter. Mr Bodkin: Were they the only men who considered the applications? The Prime Minister: They were the two who submitted the recommendations to the Minister. When Mr Fraser made reference to “muck-rakers,” the Chairman of Committees said the Prime Minister should not use the term. . The Prime Minister: 1 cannot claim that I did not have any member of the House in mind when I used the expression and I withdraw it. It is typical of the honourable member for Tauranga that he should use unscrupulous innuendo. The Chairman of Committees: Order! The Prime Minister: I will withdraw. An Opposition member: You withdraw according to plan. (Laughter.) The Prime Minister said that no officer of the Health Department would do anything dishonourable. The Opposition was casting reflections on the Public Service. Opposition members: No, no. Mr Fraser said there was ground for an honest difference whether the bursary in Question should be reconsidered. The responsibility for not cancelling it rested with the Minister. It was "a question whether it was worth while to cancel it. The granting of it had been a mistake. It was a question of cancelling a bargain. Mr Bodkin: The army cancels all serts of contracts when it sends men overseas.

The Prime Minister: That is so, and it might be that this man will yet go overseas.

Mr D. C. Kidd (Oppn., Waitaki) said the National Service Department, which had ordered the man’s release from the army, must have known that he had served a term as a military defaulter. Who were the men in the National Service Department who recommended his release from the army? There was a “political pull” behind the scenes in the case. The only honourable thing was to cancel the bursary. Mr W. T. Anderton (Govt., Eden) said that in all the years he had. been in the House he had never seen such a display of political childishness. It was apparent that the Opposition was seeking to create a party advantage by resorting to political jobbery. Mr C. G. Harker (Oppn., Waipawa) said the Opposition would withdraw its amendment if it received an assurance that a wrong action would be rectified.

Mr E. L. Cullen (Govt., Hawke’s Bay) said he would take second place to no Opposition member in his concern and liberal outlook for the welfare of the returned men. There were 25 returned men going through training under university bursaries, including five in dentistry. In all, 250 soldiers had been granted bursaries for medical training and eight held bursaries in America and England. On a division the amendment was defeated by 39 votes to 29, and the estimates were approved.