AVIATION PUPILS.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume V, Issue 1339, 29 May 1918, Page 8 (Supplement)

AVIATION PUPILS.

THEIR MILITARY STATUS. AN INVOLVED POSITION. DEPARTMENTAL DIFFERENCES. Although two aviation schools have been established in New Zealand for some considerable time, and .many yoilng men subject to the Military Service Act have passed through them and been sent to England for further training for the Royal Flying Corps, Government departments which have to deal with reservists have not yet reached unanimity as to the military status of aviation pupils. As a result, hardship is being caused to some of the young men who are taking up this branch of military service. CASES OF HARDSHIP. Young New Zealanders who are well qualified for service in the Royal Flying Corps, but whose parents are not in comfortable circumstances, are particularly affected by the lack of agreement tg. between Government departments. There is a clear divergence of opinion between the Defence Department and the Soldiers' Financial Assistance Board as to whether pupils at the two aviation schools in the Dominion are to be recognised as member* of the New

Zealand Expeditionary Force. Learning ') that there were some cases of hardship through certain pupils at the Canterbury Aviation School being unable to obtain assistance toward the payment of some financial obligations, the Applications Committee of the. Canterbury Patriotic Fund Executive sought, in March of this year, a direction from its executive as to the assistance to be granted to men joining the scho'ol. A particular case was cited in, which a young man sought assistance in payment of a life insurance premium of £2O a year, until he could qualify in England for the Royal Flying Corps, when he would be able to pay the premiums himself. It was pointed out that until they qualified in England, the aviation pupils received only a shilling a day and rations. The Soldiers' Financial Assistance Board had stated that the matter was outside its province. COLONEL CHAFFEY 'S STATEMENT In a discussion of the matter, at a meeting of the Patriotic Fund Executive on March 13, the question arose as to whether the aviation pupils were members of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force. Colonel R. A. Chaffey, V.D., Officer Commanding the Canterbury Military District, who was at the meeting, then explained that until a few months before, boys of 18 years of ' age and upwards were allowed to go into the aviation school. The}' were not of age for- military -service," but they were sent Homo at the Government's expense, and became soldiers after they had qualified for the Royal Flying Corps. The position, however, had been altered, and young men of 19 or over who joined the Flying School were attested before they entered the school. So, when they entered the school, they were members of the Expeditionary Force, and they went forward as such. A BEWILDERING DICTUM. That was a very definite statement, and a correct one. So one can imagine the _ bewildered surprise of attested pupils on being informed by another Government official that they are not members of the N.Z.E.F.! A'pupil who has passed his test, and who has applied for financial assistance in the payment of insurance premiums, has received from the secretary to the Soldiers' Financial' Assistance Board a letter pointing out that the provisions for financial assistance contained iu the regulations relate only to members of ' the New Zealand Expeditionary Force. "It is noticed," continues the letter, "that you are a member of the Imperial Flying Corps, ■ and the board regrets, therefore, that it canriot authorise any financial assistance iu your case." Yet this man has been attested as a member of •the New Zealand Expeditionary Force! When a Bum representative brought the matter under the attention of Colonel "" Chaffey, that officer confirmed his previous statement on the question of attestation, and referred to instructions from general headquarters on the subject. Iu a regulation issued iu March, and subsequently incorporated also in consolidated regulations, it is clearly stated, under the heading of "Aviation Candidates," that: "Every pupil undergoing tuition at a school must be an attested soldier. It is therefore an instruction to the aviation schools that no pupil of 19 years or over is to be accepted as a pupil unless or until the pupil is duly attested as a soldier of the :N.Z.E.F." DEFINITE RULING NEEDED. It might be added that the pupils, before entering the school, are examined by a medical board under the Military Service Act, and the whole .procedure, so far as the department of -the Director of Recruiting is concerned, is based on the fact that the pupil is an attested

member of tbc N.Z.E.F. The pupil is given leave without pay while he is training for a position in the Eoyal Flying Corps, and if he fails to qualify for a pilot's certificate in New Zealand, or if he fails in his examinations in England, he has to go into one of the ordinary Expeditionary Force training camps. A time limit of three months is placed by the department on his training in New Zealand for a pilot's certificate. When they actually enter the Eoyal Flying Corps they are virtually in the position of being seconded from the N.Z.E.F. for service with the Imperial Army. Clearly, then, the aviation pupil of 19 years or more is a soldier of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force in the eyes of the department, which has most to do with him as a soldier. The difference of opinion between the Defence Department and the Soldiers' Financial Assistance Board on the matter of the pupil's status opens \ip other interesting aspects, such as the attested pupil's right to a pension if he is incapacitated by an accident wTiile he is undergoing training for military aviation. Obviously, also, it is time that the Minister of Defence gave a ruling, binding on the Soldiers' Financial Assistance Board, on the matter of the military status of aviation pupils, so that no more young men may enter the flying "schools under a misapprehension of their position. -*