MR WEBB'S POSITION.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue LXXIV, 30 March 1918, Page 4

MR WEBB'S POSITION.

I _ __— g I The sentence of two years' hard labor promulgated upon Mr Webb is what was generally expected. The extremists will,, no doubt, say that Capitalism has once more endeavored to crush Labor. Mr Webb's attitude is well known. Twelve months ago at ■a. meeting in Greymouth he that he would take the course he has taken. His objection to serving in the forces, according to his speech on that occasion, was that he could do better work by remaining in the Dominion to look after the interests of men who had gone and were going to the front. Yet so keen was he to be. the. friend of the soldiers that it was only after much- criticism and protest by the people of Greymouth he deemed it necessary to attend a farewell function to a draft leaving -bis electorate to go into camp. He was • a member of the Grey Patriotic Association, a body which should have provided him with an opportunity to do some real work •for the returned soldiers. Again, he refused to take a part in or to attend meetings of that institution. During Sir James Allen's visit in connection with last year's strike, an honor won by <a deceased soldier was presented to the mother by the Minister of Defence, upon whose invitation Mr-- Webb addressed the gathering, making a speech fitting to the occasion and saying how> much they all honored one who had done his duty so nobly. A few minutes later Mi* Webb delivered another speech, in support of the Labor party candidates for the municipal elections, but the example of the lad who had laid down his life for his country was forgotten, statements made in Mr Webb's speech gaining him three months' imprisonment for seditious utterance. As a private citizen Mr Webb was well liked, but, apart from the miners and members of Labor unions, his politics found no favor. His supporters include the extreme Socialists, whose programme coincides in every particular with Mr Webb's. They see in everything that demands sacrifice from them the hand of their hated foe—capitalism. Their contention is that the war is a product of capitalistic greed, and that the worker is the instrument by which it is waged. It is useless to appeal to them to protect their privileges of liberty and justice under the British Crown, for they hold that they have none, and consequently they are unwilling to fight in defence of .their country. Mr Webb told* the court-martial that his attitude wasi calmly determined upon; that his return unopposed after the appeal fOl exemption made on his behalf by his electors proved that they did not wish him to go the front. The line oi thought which, these people follow ie hard to understand, especially when one knows that they are in real earnest and that the great majority of them ; believe that they are right, Perhaps it is due to "the writings oi such leaders as Henry George and Karl Marx, often misinterpreted. Strangely enough, the New Zealand Socialists are not iri accord regarding the war with the Socialists of Great Britain and France, whcse leaders have •frequently shown that the Avar is being fought for > the freedom of all nations from military tyranny. authorities, as our Wellington correspondent reports to-day, were willing to go so far as to place Mr Webb in the same category as conscientious objectors and to give him the chance to serve in the ambulance or in the Tunnelling Corps, but he still refused, and maintained an attitude of defiance to the law. No Government could permit such a position, and it has been found necessary to punish Mr Webb as a He has by his policy not lost his seat in Parliament, it appears, but the matter of obtaining leave during the coming session will not be so easily arranged as previously. Most people would feel it a disgrace, but Mr Webb will no doubt think himself a martyr, punished because of his principles. The unfortunate part of the position is that, though sentenced to two years' hard labor, the offender escapes doing his duty to his country, and is permitted to remain in the Dominion while others fight to protect him. It would be more satisfactory if Mr Webb were made to serve his country in some military capacity instead of being a charge upon the State during his term , of sentence.