WHAT IS THE POSITION?

Dominion, Volume 36, Issue 230, 24 June 1943, Page 4

WHAT IS THE POSITION?

The question which the member for Waitaki, Mr. Kidd, has addressed to the Minister in Charge of the Electoral Office, vyhether men in detention camps for military defaulters are to be permitted to vote at the general election, will enable the Minister in Charge the Prime Minister—to remove a feeling of uncertainty in the community. There is a widespread opinion that men who have refused to discharge theii - duty to the country at a time such as this have forfeited all claim to a voice in its affairs, and not simply for the duration of the war. Men who at a time of desperate crisis will do nothing to defend the independence of a country should have no power to influence, in a political sense, its present or future course. It is by no means clear exactly what status these men have as electors. They are in detention camps as military defaulters, not in jails following convictions, and not detained for specified periods. Special establishments for the reception of military defaulters were probably not even thought of by those who drafted the electoral laws of the country, but they exist today and the question of the right of these men to A’ote arises. If they can vote then apparently it would be in order for candidates to address them and the position would be farcical. There should he no doubt at all about this matter and if amending legislation is necessary to make the position definite then it should be introduced, otherwise the country may have belated explanations to the effect that there is no authority to deprive rhe men of the power to vote. The matter is by no means theoretical. It has been stated that in the Rotorua electorate there is a camp containing several hundred military defaulters. Most.of them, if not all, have qualified by length of residence to have their names placed on the electors’ roll there and, in the event of a close contest, their votes might prove sufficient to affect the result. That would be a wholly unsatisfactory state of affairs. But apart from that it is highly desirable that the uncertainty surrounding this issue should be removed, and that it should be made quite clear that men ivho have refused to do their duty to the State and community should have no claim to express, through the ballotbox. their views on the political issues of the day.

At. a time when the Education Department and district boards are carrying on under manifest difficulties on account, of war conditions, the action of GO miners' children of Bcnnydale. in the King Country, as reported, in going on strike at the instigation of lheir parents because of the overcrowded condition of the Mangapehi school at. which they attended, and of the delay in providing a more convenient school, reflects small credit, on those responsible. The spirit of co-operation to which the Minister of Education, Mr. Mason, refers in his animal report as a pleasing feature of the endeavours of all concerned to carry on under difficulties, appears to lie deplorably lacking in this particular instance. A more serious aspect of this incident, however, is the impression fostered in the receptive minds of young children that claims, whether rightly or wrongly based, can be most effectively pressed by going on strike. Every aspiration of sound citizenship, whether in community or international relationships, is at: present concentrated against, the use of force, and in furtherance of settlements l-y peaceful negotiation. Y’et here, while a world conflict is raging for the vindication by united democratic nations of the principles of peaceful settlements, we have a community of young children being influenced by an atmosphere tainted by the very onnosite kind of urinciole of action —force.