The Jugo-Slavs

Manawatu Times, Volume XL, Issue 13947, 27 July 1918, Page 7

The Jugo-Slavs

SUPPORTERS OP THE ALLIES. During the hearing of the case against the Jugo-Slavs at Tauxnarunui, Mr Ostler stated that he undertook the defence of these men, notwithstanding the unpopularity of their cause in this country, because he felt that an attempt was being made to place an injustice on their shoulders. He hoped to be able to show that the accused were not guilty legally of tlic offence under which they were charged. He wanted also to show that an injustice had been done to those men. Technically they -were now enemy subjects, but really and in fact, as every student of knew,, and as the Royal Commission, consisting of two very able men, had stated, they were enthusiastic supporters of the cause of the Allies. In the country from which they came they had been under the yoke of German and Austrian tyrants who for many years had denied them any measure" of liberty. They left the country to escape the rule of these tyrants, and came to New Zealand, where they hoped under the British flag to have freedom and liberty. Their national aspirations were towards a union with the Southern Slavs, men of the same nations and same thought, who had learned when they were children to look upon Great Britain as the mother of freedom, and to regard the British flag as the symbol of freedom. Then came the war, and from the very first those men had shown their loyalty to the cause of the Allies and their hatred of their enemies. As proof of this the report of the Royal Commission gave, among other incidents, one in which the Jugo-Slavs held a demonstration and burnt the Austrian flag in front of the Austrian Consulate in Auckland. This was “prior to the entry of England into the war, and it was quite unnecessary then to prove their loyalty to the Allies. Many of them enlisted, or had endeavoured to enlist, in the first months of the war, and some had paid the supreme sacrifice. The fact should never be forgotten by the people of this country that some of these men had laid down their lives for our cause. He alluded to the appointment of the Royal Commission by the Government, and to the finding of that Commission that the Jugo-Slavs wore wholly loyal to the cause of the Allies. When the Government refused to accept their offers to go on active service abroad they offered to do work of a pational character. In fact, according to Mr Cullen’s own statement, fully 80 per cent, of them had volunteered for home service. Continuing. Mr Ostler submitted that the terms of the piece work had not boon submitted to these men. and that all they wanted was to know the conditions under which they w r erc to work. He made an offer earlier in the day, and he would nv kc it again, although he protested in the name of fair play at the manner in which these men had been dealt with, if the prosecution would submit to him the terms under which these men w-ere to work he would guarantee that they would return to work to-morrow. On this undertaking the Magistrate reserved his decision.