RIGHT OF APPEAL

Evening Post, Volume CXXXIX, Issue 134, 8 June 1945, Page 6

RIGHT OF APPEAL

MILITARY DEFAULTERS REVISION AUTHORITIES Men at present in military defaulters' detention camps are to have the, right ot appeal, the Government having set up tor this purpose two Revision Authorities—Mr. A. H. Johnstone, X.C.. of Auckland, and Mr. W. H. Woodward, S.M., of New Plymouth. Regulations giving effect to the Government's decision and prescribing conditions governing any releases from detention were gazetted last night. The Acting Prime Minister (Mr. Nash) said that careful consideration had been given to. the position of the men at present in detention camps and the Government had decided to appoint two Revision Authorities so that an opportunity should be provided for men detained to present before a judicial body any evidence they now wished to tender in further support of their claims of conscientious objection. "In both Great Britain and Australia," said Mr. Nash, "persons who are unable to substantiate their claims to conscientious objection before the appropriate authority have a right to appeal to an appellate body and in a large number of cases their appeals are successful. Where the appeal is unsuccessful, the usual penalty for failure to report for military service is imprisonment for three months, followed by direction to essential work." Many of the men in detention in New Zealand, stated Mr. Nash, had been detained in the camps for over three and' a half years, and the new provisions gave an opportunity to appeal to men who. when their cases were heard by the Armed Forces Appeal Board, failed to satisfy the board as to the conscientious nature of their objections. No person would be released from detention unless he was able to satisfy a Revision Authority of the conscientious nature of his belief that would prevent his participation in war. FORM OF PAROLE. It was provided, also, said Mr. Nash, that any release granted would be in the form of parole and subject to man-power direction, and also to the orders of the special tribunal, which would ensure that the financial position of the men released on parole would be no better than it would have been had they served in the Forces. An undertaking was to be given in writing by each individual requiring strict adherence to the conditions of parole. A Revision Authority would be granted power to order the return to detention of any person who committed a breach of the conditions of his release on parole. "It is intended," added Mr. Nash, "to proceed with the revision scheme immediately, and with this in view two eminent citizens have been appointed as Revision Authorities, each acting independently of the other and in different areas."