DISMISSED APPEALS AGAINST SERVICE

Dominion, Volume 34, Issue 126, 21 February 1941, Page 6

DISMISSED APPEALS AGAINST SERVICE

< liiestions which are being asked by the public concerning the steps to be taken in the cases of conscientious objectors to military service whose appeals are dismissed, have been partly answered m a statement published yesterday, lhe Army authorities, it is explained. will compel all men drawn in the ballots to present themselves for medical examination. Those who may fail to appeal after receiving notification will be notified a second time by tegisteted post, after which the names of absentees will be forwarded to Army headquarters. Finally:

The names of these men will then be published in the Gazette giving them a final chance to attend at a time and place stated, and failing their appearance, appropriate stops to compel attenda nee will be taken. But what is needed to satisfy public opinion that none eligible for service in the defence of their country will be permitted to escape this responsibility is a plain statement that there wil-l be no flouting of authority on the part of those whose appeals have been dismissed. The penalties, or the alternative tasks, confronting such men shoiuu be made known, otherwise objectors may be eucoui aged to a seu.se of immunity.

It may be the considered opinion of the Army authorities, based on experience in the Great War. that a determined passive resister mav be so great a nuisance and so entirely useless that lie would be better out of uniform. 'Chat is one aspect, of the. matter, lhe other is that the law must be upheld and objectors who have insufficient grounds for objection made to realize that they cannot escape the personal responsibility of citizenship in wartime by leaving to others the sacrifice and service which is the price of our national security and liberty. The community as a whole, while it may be prepared to tolerate true conscientious objection as revealed by tile appeal boards, should insist that others whose claims arc more titan doubtful be compelled to make sacrifice—if not in one way. then in another.

It objectors who refused to abide by the decision ol the appeal boards are to be handed over to the Army, they will no doubt automatically face the penalties which are provided for in traction oS militarv orders. Incidentally they will become a burden and a liabilitv on the Army. If this is to be avoided, civil penalties, eithet of the nature of imprisonment or of some form oi compulsory civil service at military rates of pay, may be necessary. Ihe problem ot the recalcitrant objector admittedly is nut a pleasant one. nor is it simple. But it will not be solved by ignoring it.