HIS LUCK CHANGED

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 87, Issue 42, 20 February 1943, Page 4

HIS LUCK CHANGED

YOUNG MAN WHO FOLLOWED RACEHORSES GAOL FOR FAILING TO ENROL “The effect of your evasion is that you have not tilled the place in the Armed Forces that you should have, and have probably allowed some other man to go in before his time,” said Mr. J. H. Salmon, S.M., in the Magistrate’s Court, Wanganui, yesterday, when a single man, Frank Podjursky, admitted failing to enrol in the First Division of the General Reserve. Podjursky, who was charged under the National Service Emergency Regulations, 1940, was sentenced to a month's imprisonment. “As you are willing to join the Army I shall make the term as short as possible,” the magistrate commented. Senior-Sergeant F. Culloty, who prosecuted, said accused called at the police station voluntarily that morning and said he wished to clear the matter up. In a statement he told the, police that he did not enrol in the First Division of the General Reserve and in 1940, when his name was not included amongst the single men, decided to see if he could evade the issue.

“I did not object to being in the Army,” accused added, “but I thought that bv moving about the country I could lie low and that my whereabouts would not become known. “I knew something about racehorses and decided to attend all race meetings. I was able to make enough money to keep going till now, bat my luck changed. I have no money and am not able to get a job without an enrolment card.

“I have travelled over the North and South Islands, but my parents and relatives have not been aware of my whereabouts and to all acquaintances that I met I told various tales about working in essential industries, or that I was on holiday. None knew that I was evading the issue. “I now hand myself over to the police and wish to have the matter cleared up,” the statement concluded. “I am quite prepared to join the Army.” Asked by the magistrate if he had anything further to say, accused replied in the negative.