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5. Section 16 of the Volunteer Ordinance, 1920, is Amendment re-numbered as sub-section (1) of section 16 and the of Ordinance
No. 2 of following sub-sections are added at the end thereof :-
(2) Without prejudice to anything contained in sub-section (1), every officer and volunteer who reports in person to undergo training in camp, other than training together with some part of His Majesty's regular forces, shall, until he is permitted to leave the camp, be subject, within the Colony, to the same control, discipline and punishments as are provided in the Army Act in the case of members of His Majesty's regular forces, with the following modifications only
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(a) that no officer or volunteer shall for any offence except for the offence of murder be subject to the penalty of death;
and
(b) that no sentence of a court martial for the trial of an officer or volunteer shall be carried into execution unless con- firmed by the Governor.
(3) Disciplinary measures may be imposed, court martial proceedings may be commenced and carried on, and punishments may be im- posed, in respect of acts or omissions of any officer or volunteer while undergoing training in camp, even though the officer or volunteer in question may have been permitted to leave the camp, and even though the camp may have been broken up, and even though the officer or volunteer in question may have been released from arrest or custody under the provisions of paragraph (4) of sub-section (1).
1920, s. 16.
Objects and Reasons.
1. The main object of this bill is to provide for the discipline and pay of the volunteer corps during camp. The opportunity is taken to make some other amend- ments also.
2. The effect of the interpretation clause of the prin- cipal Ordinance, as it stands at present, is that the administrative commandant must be a volunteer officer. The present intention is that he should continue to be à volunteer officer, but during the war the administra- tive commandant was at one time a regular officer, and it is just possible that a similar arrangement might be desirable at some time in the future. Clause 2 of the bill, therefore, amends section 2 of the principal Ordi- nance by providing in effect that the administrative commandant may be a regular officer.
3. Under section 12 of the principal Ordinance, as it stands at present, the three cases in which the volun- teers may be called out for actual military service are (a) great national emergency, (b) actual or apprehended invasion of or attack on the Colony, and (c) serious local disturbance. These three cases do not seem to exhaust all possible cases in which it might be desirable to call out the volunteers. For example, a local emergency is perhaps more probable than a national emergency. Again, it should not be necessary to delay the call out of the volunteers until serious local disturbances had actually broken out. Accordingly, clause 3 of the bill gives power to call out the volun- teers in case of great local emergency, and in case it is desirable to take precautions against the possibility of serious local disturbance.