SENTENCED AS DEFAULTER

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25243, 23 July 1947, Page 9

SENTENCED AS DEFAULTER

MAN GIVES HIMSELF UP TO POLICE

SPENT FIVE YEARS IN BUSH COUNTRY A man who had spent five years in the bush country since being called up for military service and failing to report, walked into the Central Police Station on July 18 and gave himself up. He was Morgan Pierpont Slater, aged 39, a bushman and miner, of Dunedin. He appeared before Mr Raymond Ferner, S.M., in the Magistrate’s Court yesterday, and pleaded guilty to a charge that when called up for service with the armed forces on January 5, 1942, he failed to report for service. Detective-Sergeant A. A. Herron said that Slater was a single man. On March 4, 1941, he was called up for service with the armed forces. He appealed as a conscientious objector. His appeal was heard at Dunedin and was dismissed. He was ordered to report for service on January 5, 1942. He failed to do so and a warrant was issued for his arrest. No trace of Slater could be found until he gave himself up on July 18. After his appeal was dismissed he went into the bush and remained there. Mr D. W. Russell, who appeared for Slater, said Slater was a conscientious objector, but his objection was not sustained. He was a follower of Jehovah’s Witnesses. When his appeal was dismissed he went into the bush in Southland and had been there ever since. He had undergone untold hardship. For up to six months he had not spoken to any human being and for a month at a time he had gone without any food except meat. Slater was now in a serious state of bodily health, continued counsel. Slater was examined by Dr. J. W. Bridgman, on July 20. A report by the doctor stated that had Slater’s medical history been checked he would never have got into a military camp and if he had gone into camp he would not have remained long. Though his actions had been cowardly, perhaps by what he did he saved the country a great deal of expense. The Magistrate said there seemed no reason why Slater should not be dealt with as any other defaulter. If the defendant had had a hard time in the bush it was due to his own actions. “The defendant will be convicted and sentenced to two months’ imprisonment but, having regard to what has been placed before me regarding his health, without hard labour,” said the Magistrate.