MARRIED MEN NOT COMPELLED TO GO TO MILITARY CAMPS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18013, 25 November 1926, Page 11

MARRIED MEN NOT COMPELLED TO GO TO MILITARY CAMPS.

MINISTER DENIES CHARGE OF HARDSHIP. (Special tq the "Star.") WELLINGTON, November 24. What seemed an example of hardship and economic waste was the sight of a number of married men in the Territorial camp at Trent ham this week. The disturbance of the family income by the reduction to military pay of 4s a day has been a matter of comment in Parliament, and has been dealt with by the Minister of Defence, the Hon F. J. Rolleston, ■who declined to make special provision for such cases. When the matter was raised by a representative of the "Star,” the Minister said that married Territorials must have gone into camp because they like it. “We do not compel married men to go into camp; in fact the De.fence Department has advised them in many cases to make application for exemption to a Magistrate, the only authority empowered to grant exemption. Some of these men are on contracts which provide for no deduction in pay while on military service, as, for example, apprentices, and they get four shillings a da\’ military pay in addition. It is estimated that the number of married Territorials under the age of twenty-one does not exceed 200, or approximately 1 per cent of the total strength. If from this is deducted the number under contract of service providing for continuation of civilian pay while in camp, the remainder is so small that it would not justify special provision to reimburse them for lost wages, especially as exemption is easil}- obtained where hardship is occasioned.”