DEFAULTER CAMPS

Evening Post, Volume C, Issue 40, 17 February 1942, Page 7

DEFAULTER CAMPS

UNTRUE RUMOURS

HOW THE MEN ARE TREATED

(P.A.) CHRISTCHURCH, Feb. 15. " "It is not the intention of the Government to brutalise these men, as , spine people would like us to do, nor is it on the other hand the intention of the Government to pamper them," declared Mr. Semple, Minister of National Service, in a statement • concerning the military defaulters' camps. Up to the present nearly 200 men have been placed in detention, said the- Minister. They were detained virtually as prisoners for an.indeterminate period. It was the policy of . the Government to treat them separately from ordinary prisoners; as many were under twenty-one years of age, it was not desirable that they should associate with persons committed for serious criminal offences. He referred to several current misr conceptions concerning the camps. Ideas that these men who had re- : fused to serve their country were living in'indolent luxury and any wrork they were to . perform was purely optional on their part were grossly, untrue,' as were suggestions that they were-given special privileges. "These men are being detained under very rigid regulations. They have lost their liberty' for the duration of the war, and are required to work hard and long hours' on what is to many unaccustomed manual labour, ana for no pay and with no leave whatever." Allegations about their being provided with a wet canteen, hot water bottles, 'fireplaces in their huts, better meals than the soldiers, fruit irrespective of cost, use of the baths and taxis in Rotorua, freedom to leave camp at night and visitors at the weekends by the score had not the slightest foundation in fact. i ' "I leave it to the judgment of fairminded citizens," concluded Mr. Semple, "whether, it is not better from . the country's point of view, and from the point of view of the inmates themselves to give these men good and useful iwork tp do, creating assets for the Dominion, than to cast them into prison where they will be compelled to mix with all types of criminals and render little or no service to the nation, and probably finish their sentences with ah embittered outlook. It is far better to try.by reasonable and ' kindly methods to convince them that they are travelling the wrong road, and impress on them that- it is their duty to help to protect and preserve not only the liberty of the present generation but that of generations to come. .To;a degree the method we .have adopted is meeting with some success."