SIMPLY A HOLIDAY.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume I, Issue 85, 16 May 1914, Page 13

SIMPLY A HOLIDAY.

MILITARY DETENTION. I S;TATE|!IENTSKEEUTEP. Press Association: l : AUCKLAND, May 15.' About a fortnight ago two young men were fined £5 each and costs, at the Onehunga Magistrate's Court, for failing to attend military drill, with the alternative of 28 days in the military detention barracks at Devonport. Both young men refused to pay the fine, and yesterday morning presented themselves at the Police Station and asked to bo arrested. One of them said he was out of work, and the other intimated that he had left his employment rather than have his wages attached. Eecently a young man returned from the marine suburb and gave a glowing account of the treatment meted out to military prisoners. According to his statement, detention was simply' a holiday. The menu, he said, consisted of ham and eggs for breakfast, with the best cuts of roast beef for dinner. As for the work, it was merely child's play. Now, it seems that all persistent shirkers have decided to become guests of the Government at Devonport. An emphatic denial that military prisoners' had anything but an unpleasant time was given this morning by Captain Kewish, who stated that the assertion that convicted men preferred to go to gaol at Devonport rather than pay their fine, was "all humbug." "Our prisoners," he stated, "are treated in almost the same way as are the convicts in gaols, i They undergo hard labour, and are com- | pelled to do the ordinary drills. As far as food is concerned, the daily allowance amounted to 2/-, and it is not possible tv live very high : ; ori that amount."