“CAUGHT" IN THE BALLOT.

Evening Star, Issue 16353, 20 February 1917, Page 8

“CAUGHT" IN THE BALLOT.

to the liurroj: : Sir, —Some days ago thc.ro appeared in the ‘Star’ a paragraph from your Chrisi church correspondent regarding *• well-known newspaper men” who had been ” caught ” in the fourth ballot.. It may not, have occurred to yon, sir. at the time, but 1 am sure that '■ on reflection you will realise that such a paragraph was particularly offensive. 'Why : should newspaper men be singled out lor 1 special mention, any more lean dentists or 1 shipping clerks or hotelkeepers or jam matin- ■ factum's? It may interest you to know that : the three members of the * feun * staff who have been drawn in the In Hot have all previously offered their services, and it is no fault of theirs ghat your correspondentshould have had the opportunity to hurl this gibe at them. Ae for myself, I belong to a Taieri family which has a splendid ‘record in this war, and one w hose name I am proud 1 to bear, and it is more to remove the stigma that you have—quite unwittingly, of coursecast on that name that I Vow write I offered my services on the day war broke out, and was accepted, only to be ” turned down” a little later; and since, then I have undergone considerable suffering in the effort, to tit myself to take my place alongside those of my own ilesh and blood who hive done so much to make me proud of being of tueir kin. Pome people reem to consider that it is a joke when a. man is “caught” in the I ballot. .Should they not realise that when his card is taken from the dmwer it is a man’s life that is being offered as a sacrifice to his country’s evidence? I have not the | slightest idea who your Christchurch cor.ospondent is, but I do think that it it quite unfair on his part to brand me In the eyes of my old comrades of the Boys’ High School, and of my numerous friends in Dunedin and on the Taieri. as one who had to wan until he was ‘-'caught” before he realised hi eduty to the Empire. If only in justice. to my . family and to the school to winch I owe I everything, and which expects of me, as it does of all jts old boys, that I should shew the value of i:s discipline in my recoipiinon of my dmy, I ask you to publish tins' left er. —I am, etc.. (lex F. IJenduv. Christchurclb February 17.