TEACHER WAR OBJECTORS

Press, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23446, 29 September 1941, Page 8

TEACHER WAR OBJECTORS

Sir, —Some, impressed with the war spirit, completely fail to grasp the fundamentals of conscience in the individual. Obedience to conscience is a moral obligation, common to every sane person in his_ judgment of right and wrong, and, if honest and sin- , cere, must be exercised irrespective of the particular circumstances prevailing. “A True Britisher” has a conscientious belief in. the righteousness of our cause. Were our Government to enact a law for all the inhabitants of this Dominion, who have parents over the age of 70, to perform an act of euthanasia upon them, would he, il a teacher, deem it just to be summarily dismissed from his profession , / because he conscientiously believed it wrong to murder? “A True Britisher 4 ’ belies his pseudonym in his violent attitude towards his fellow citizens who happen to obey the law of their country, wisely enacted to safeguard individual conscience, and their'consciences. Surely a teacher with a conscience, and I believe all our teachers come under this heading, is. preferable* to one who has lost or never possessed a sense of right and wrong.— Yours, etc., C. R. N. MACKIE; September 27, 1941. Sir, —If the individual citizen .of New Zealand, be he schoolteacher or dustman, is not free to stand by the truth as he sees it, then, whatever else may be included in our war aims, let us be honest and delete the clause affirming that we fight to preserve personal liberty in thought and practice —practice, be it repeated, because if * man holds convictions he must live by them. No one denies that there are imposters among the objectors—men who are using religion and the conscientious objection issue as an excuse to evade conscription; these deserve short shrift. But there are young men today who havb a clear vision of their duty as citizens. Time alone will tell whether their , vision is illusion or reality, but it just may turn out that future generations will rise up and call them blessed. Meanwhile, the way of a pioneer no less than the transgressor is very hard.—Yours, etc., L.G.H. Hokitika, September 26, 1941.