SERVICE APPEAL

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 188, 11 August 1941, Page 2

SERVICE APPEAL

SON OF WOMAN M.P.

MOTHER NOT CALLED The case in which William Baird Sword Stewart, life insurance agent, appealed befoi e the No. 4 Armed Forces Appeal Board on conscientious grounds, and in which an adjournment was granted for the purpose of hearing evidence from the appellant's mother, Mrs. C. Stewart, M.P.. came before the board again in the afternoon. The appeal was dismissed. . At the morning sitting the appellant produced a letter from his mother to the effect that she had seen a copy of his appeal and could endorse it. Mr. C. O. Bell, the Crown representative, objected to the admission of the letter, on the ground that the writer should be present for cross-examination. The hearing was then adjourned until Monday, but when the board sat in the afternoon the appellant appeared again and said that he had thought over the question of bringing his mother before the board. He felt that, if her written statement did not carry sufficient weight, he would prefer to let his case rest rather than subject her to cross-examination. The chairman, Mr. W. F. Stilwell, S.M., said that the reason why the appellant's mother was asked to attend w~s to enable her to be crossexamined. The Crown representative was quite entitled to ask that anyone who was readily available in Wellington should attend before the board to give evidence verbally rather than rely on a written memorandum. If his mother were a private citizen, it would be all right, said the appellant, but since everyone was politically minded nowadays, he would not like to be placed in a position which would act to the detriment of his mother. Mr. Stilwall said that there was no question of implications so far as the board was concerned.