EXEMPTION FOR SINGLE MEN

Dominion, Volume 34, Issue 259, 29 July 1941, Page 6

EXEMPTION FOR SINGLE MEN

There will be general agreement with the view expressed by the chairman of No. 4 Armed Forces Appeal Board (Mr. W. F. Stilwell, S.M.) that some general policy should be laid down “in respect to appeals for exemption from military service on behalf of single men in responsible Government positions.” Indeed, it is surprising to learn that such a policy does not already exist. As. Mr. Stilwell proceeded to point out, the granting of exemption to single men will become a delicate and unpopular matter when married men begin to be called up by ballot. On the other hand it has to be recognized that in the national interest certain men with special qualifications are better left to serve in their civil capacities—and that such qualifications are possessed by single as well as married men. >■ The problem is really one of care in the granting of exemptions, in order that the public may be satisfied that slackers and privilegeseekers will not—and cannot —use this means of escaping their obligations. Qualifications alone should not merit exemption. The Boards should determine, in all cases, whether such qualifications are actually being employed in some essential service or channel of production. What is more, there should be a means of ensuring that men thus exempted are automatically called on for military service if they leave their essential occupations, or if circumstances arise in which their ' particular occupation ceases to be essential. Mr. Stilwell suggested that the Public Service Commissioner’s opinion on the general question would be helpful. No doubt it would ; but the problem should not be looked upon as being one of .concern only to the Public Service. The country’s essential occupations are far from being exclusively State departmental occupations. Whatever exemption policy be formulated, it should—and indeed must — apply to the community as a whole. Otherwise there would be a danger of , creating the most invidious and improper distinctions between professional and technical experts employed by the Government, and those who, in private business or employment, are giving equally valuable service to the nation.