SHIRKERS.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXIX, Issue LXIX, 28 May 1915, Page 8

SHIRKERS.

A TERRIT9£M'__ SCANDAL.

It seems hardly credible in thaso days When, one Tea da of the flower of "oar. manhood fighting for their country-at tne' lJiardaneltes,^ and • many 'sacrihcing "their lives, thatfthere shoild be (says t the Press) ■ yottths in Chiisfcchurch "ko deaf to all obligations tnat not only does it never occu^to them to enlist to fill the gaps- caused by the casualties among toe brave fellows at the front, bat tney cannot even sacrifice the time to attend the one night a week drill that the Governmeni^or" this country has imposed lipon them. For "many months, especially since the outbreak of the war, the attendance at Territorial parades in ChTistchurch has been a positive scandal,* .and it has reached sach a stage that tbe officers demand that employers assist the Defence De-p-a-Lbment by thseatenlng to dismiss an.\ of their employees liable for servic-ft in ihe Territonol Force who make a practice of not at/tending parades. One yonth, well known ff«* his antimilitarist views, airfcually had the impudence the other day to write to one ■of his officers sta+ing that he would not Attend parades because he .had conscientious objections to military service, and entreating -the officer not to prosecute Mm, because, he had aged parents to support. • ■ Tuesday night's battalion parade of the Ist (Canterbury) Regiment will give so-me -4ea of - the number of '.shirkers iii the force. Out of a total of Vi&ci of Whom liad ncl excuse vrhatYoyeii.foi :'')&*£■;.attfiudin^ only 320 mien paraded? Therfewere 55 men*of AY Com-; pany, 44 of B, 64 of C, 78 of D, and the Canterbury College platoon, the band, signallers, and scouts. A statement on the position was made to a Press representative by Major Murphy, the Commander. • "We are taking steps," he said, "to force shirkers or non-shirkers of parades to attend, by prosecuting them. We thought that the parades of the Citizens' Defenco Corps and the work they are doing would be an incentive to the younger men who aw within the prescribed age of military training, to come along and attend the dri'ls. Generally speaking, tho whole of the officers of the regiment try to nmke the work as interesting as possible, but even in view of the trouble taken by the officers, many of tho men do not seem to realise.their responsibility and attend. If other means fail, I am seriously considering tbe question of psking . the local newspapers if they will be good enough to publish lists of the shirkers."