A WELL-MERITED REBUKE

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2568, 16 September 1915, Page 4

A WELL-MERITED REBUKE

The member for Wairarapa (Mji. ITohnsby) has only himself to blaino for tho reproof which the Minister of Defenco quite properly administered to him on Wednesday for his repetition of certain idle rumours imputing cowardice to some of the soldiers who were welcomed back to New Zealand on Saturday last, However excellent Mn. Hoiinsby'h inotivo may have been, lie was most unfortunate in f.lic way in which ho dealt with the matter. It is extremely undesirable that tho foolish gossip that one so frequently hoars at the street corners should be repeated in Parliament and placed on permanent record in the- pages of Hansard. It may on rare occasions be necessary to giro Ministers an opportunity of removing false impressions which may have gained a placc in tho public mind, but great caution should bo exercised in such matters. references to "all sorts of dreadful things" ought to bo studiously avoided by men holding responsible public positions. They can do no good, and may do a lot of harm. It is true that Mr. Horusby, when challenged, explained that he was not accusing anyone of cowardice. He said ho was only repeating what was being said, and wanted to get a denial "from the highest place in the land, - ' but in his introductory remarks he failed to mako it sufficiently clear that bis comments on last Saturday's reception had no better foundation than some hazy "they say." Instead of hysterical talk about the need of discrimination between those who had "been through the fire and returned broken and maimed," and the "hundreds on the ship who, he believed, had, never seen the firing line," he should have contented himself with asking the Minister for an explanation as to why some of the men who came back by the Tahiti had never been in the firing line. If ho had taken that course there would have been no need for any talk about cowardice and "dreadful things." The House and country would have been spared the histrionic outburst to the effect that "it was not fair or decent to give to these men the same reception as was given to men who had their bodies broken in the service- of the Empire." It is true that some of the soldiers who were publicly welcomed on Saturday last were never in the firing line; but that was their misfortune, not their fault. Are they to be blamed because their health was not equal to the strain 1. Some are suffering from pneumonia and sonic have contracted tnberculcir disease. They are suffering in the Empire's cause just as much as their wounded comrades._ Any attempt to discriminate in this matter between the sick and the wounded could not be tolerated for a moment.