EX-SOLDIER'S COMPLAINT.

Wanganui Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 15955, 25 October 1919, Page 5

EX-SOLDIER'S COMPLAINT.

SBQUJSL 'JO CO U R'l’-MA JITIAL, SUM OF £2 OOO CLAIMED. Harry 1.1 arson t 'Thompaon. insurance agent, of Wellington, well-known in Wanganui, has petitioned Parliament regarding liis ease, lie states that he entered Trentliaia camp as a volunteer in and was posted to the infantry'. In December he was medically examined by Captain Hotop |and another officer, and classed as [permanently unlit, owing to physical disabilities. .No intimation was given him that, owing to unfitness, home service was optional, but he was retained in camp on home service duties. In August, 1917, he was again brought before Captain Hotop and classed fit for active service. He was surprised at this different decision, and i wrote to the camp commandant for his ense to be reviewed. No reply was received. in August petitioner again wrote to the camp commandant (Colonel Adams), and his letter contained the words reflecting on Captain Hotop, for which he was afterwards conrtmartialled. Petitioner makes certain statement* regarding Captain Hotop and his demeanour at the Medical Board. He maintains that he was debarred the right of obtaining evidence from attendants at the Officers’ Club in Fealherston Camp in support of hie case, and was peremptorily ordered to leave tho premises. Ho was sen toured to 112 days confinement. He, maintaining that the sentence of the Court wax wrong, goes into the legal aspect of his case. “In any case,” he says, “the sentence was excessive. lie complains that the conditions during his detention in the Buckle Street Barrack* were worse than in any gaol in New Zealand. Tho food, he alleges, was filthy, bad, and insufficient. Upon his release he was transferred to the Cl training camp, where his sufferings, he says, were extreme. His record in business, he claims, lias been a good one. He refers also to a divorce case in which the medical officer was concerned, and tho remarks of the Chief Justice thereon. He asks that the offence against him be expunged from tho records, and that €2OOO be awarded him for the wrongs suffered.