DEFAULTERS

Evening Post, Volume CXXXIX, Issue 68, 21 March 1945, Page 6

DEFAULTERS

N.Z.R.S.A, ACTION

GOVERNMENT POLICY SOUGHT

The defaulters question is discussed' editorially in the latest issue of "Review," the official oi'gan of the N.Z.R.S.A. It is reported that a deputation from the association waited on the Government recently "to endeavour lo obtain a--'statement of the Government's policy in regard to military defaulters/" and that the Minister of Finance (Mr. Nash) said that the views stated by the deputation would be placed before the Government.- which would advise the association of its decision in due course. "As if tlie Government was not already fully aware of the views of tlie N.Z.R.S.A.!" comments the edilorial. "For four years the policy of tlie association has been repeatedly [ presented to the Government, but if, at long last, an announcement of the Government's policy is forthcoming, perhaps the deputation will not have been in vain." The editorial explains that when the N.Z.R.S.A. adopted its well-consider-ed policy in regard to military defaulters, it did so without any thought of embarking on a punitive expedition The principle involved was purely one of equality of sacrifice and was conceived by men who had seen service in the last war and were determined to safeguard the rights of those called upon to serve today ■|They felt," the editorial proceeds that when a Government adopts a policy of compulsory military service, it is under a sacred moral obligation to those who have loyally accepted the call to the defence of our liberties, to see that a suitable penalty is imposed on those who refuse to serve Merely to confine those men to detention for the duration of the war in comparatively comfortable conditions, is not, m the opinion of this journal, an adequate penalty. To give these i.ien -the privileges of citizenship that they refused to defend would be a travesty of the sacrifices that have been demanded of our loyal servicemen. . . .-' REHEARING OF CASES? The editorial says that addressing tlie House on December 13 last, the Prime Minister made this statement" .'lt is claimed that a number of men m the detention camps are not defaulters, but conscientious objectors, whose cases ought to be reheard. . lhe question of whether there should be some kind of reviewing authority lor any who claim to be unjustly im?hi Sw ed bvjously, a question for the War Cabinet to consider" "This utterance of the Prime Minister, states the editorial, "lends colour to the belief that the Government is contemplating granting at least someof the defaulters^ new opportunity to convince the authorities that military service was contrary to their conscientious beliefs. We use the past tense deliberately, because we are now so near to the end of the war that any attempt to select a few of these defaulters and provide them with a convenient backdoor exit to the freedom they refused to defend, win rightly or wrongly, be regarded by the public generally and the R.S.A i?n„ parV T CUi lar ' as P°litical discrimination. Unless we are greatly mistaken the public will readily recognise the symptoms and will"reach a sound diagnosis. "If any right to rehearing of appeals is granted, it will, of course «? V« tOJ e all-embracingr. Each one of the 600-odd defaulters will be entitled to be heard, and none will be more deserving of a rehearing than those 1800 men who are now loyally serving their country after their earlier appeals on conscientious grounds had been dismissed. "Such a course would, of course be impracticable, for some of the men concerned have made the supreme sacrifice in the defence of our liberties. We have it on the authority of a very high, ranking officer, of the Army that some of the bravest men he had seen in the Libyan campaign were conscientious objectors serving as stretcher-bearers and medical orderlies. They were always to be seen where the fighting was heaviest, undaunted, carrying on their humane task providing succour for our wounded. Other erstwhile conscientious objectors are in the combatant forces. Are they to have this right of another appeal, or is that a privilege reserved solely for those who have defied the laws of the country? CONSCIENCE APPEALS. "According to the latest figures available to the 'Review.' the number of men who appealed against military service on the grounds of conscience was 3060. Of these, 600 appeals were allowed by tribunals. 1217 were dismissed subject tc non-combatant service, and the remaining 1243 were dismissed outright. We understand that j there are only about 640 defaulters held in custody in detention camps and it may be taken as a reasonable inference that at least 1800 Wn whose appeals were dismissed by the tribunal arc now loyally carrying out their obligations; and their experience of war m its stark, cruel nakedness is not likely to have removed their professed conscientious objection to war. "Had such a right of higher appeal been instituted at the commencement there may have been no objection but to grant this right to persons 'who have dehed the law of the country while denying it to those who have loyally accepted service would be a negation of common justice, and a betrayal of the principles of equality of sacrifice. "There is likely to be some very plain speaking by the delegates to the N.Z.R.S.A. Dominion Council meeting in June. This plain speaking will not be silenced by hypocritical pretences and an assumed concern for some hypothetical defaulters who ; are alleged to be wrongly convicted."