Man Who Served At Sea Charged By Army For Not Reporting

Wanganui Chronicle, 30 June 1948, Page 6

Man Who Served At Sea Charged By Army For Not Reporting

j(P.A.) Wellington June 29 j “This is a major case of bureaucratic bungling. At the time this man was required to report at the iDrill Hall in Auckland in 1942, he was adrift on a raft in the Atlantic,” said counsel, Mr. G. Joseph, in the I Magistrate’s Court today. I He appeared for Frank Miles, aged 41, a watersider, who was charged with failing to report under the NaItional Service Emergency RegulaItions at the Drill Hall, Auckland, on | March 5, 1942. He pleaded not guilty. Captain C. Rawley said the army had records to show that Miles did not report. To counsel, he said he did not know that merchant seamen were not required to report. Miles had tried to join the army, said counsel, but was turned down, as he was a merchant navy officer. “He even changed his name, but was not accepted, and he returned to sea,” said counsel. Miles, in evidence, said he was in the Wairangi when she was torpedoed in a Malta convoy, and he was in the water again when his ■ship sunk under nim in the Atlantic. “Technically he did not report ’’ said the magistrate, Mr. H. J. i Thompson, “but it is nonsensical that i this action should have been taken 'against him. Apparently he recently i told the army this story, but for (some reason they did not believe him.” The information was dismissed.