CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTORS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 76, 19 June 1941, Page 4

CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTORS

ACTION BY N.Z.R.S.A. ALTERNATIVE SERVICE AT SOLDIERS’ PAY URGED DEALING WITH DISLOYALISTS i Alternative service at soldiers’ rates : of pay was urged by the New Zealand } Returned Soldiers’ Association Domin- , ion Council at its meeting this week for ! conscientious objectors. Defaulters who failed to register and I report for duty, it was considered. : should be deprived of civil rights in ad- j dition to other penalties. The Government has been asked for | a statement regarding defaulters, but j ; the Dominion executive committee has ! j received no reply to date, it was stated j yesterday. The association has urged on the j ! Government that all persons refusing to | affirm their loyalty to the Crown be debarred from employment in the Public i Service and that all employees at pre- i | sent in such service refusing to affirm j i their loyalty be dismissed immediately, j ' A letter was read from a small manu- | i facturer who expected to enter military j training camp. The writer stated that ■ his immediate competitor was an alien ! | refugee, who would undoubtedly ac- j i quire the whole of his business when he | ( commenced his military service, j The whole subject, as an urgent one, | was being discussed with the the Government, it was explained, and the Do- | minion executive committee felt such a state of affairs should not be allow’ed to continue PROPOSAL SUPPORTED As briefly stated in yesterday’s issue of "The Mail" a unanimous decision to support the Christchurch Returned Soldiers’ Association in urging the Govern- ! ment to implement regulations on alter- i native service, asking for an immediate | definition of the conditions of service, | and urging that the alternative service be at soldiers’ rates of pay was made by the council of the Wellington Manufacturers’ Association after a discussion jon conscientious objectors to military As it was considered that in the case lof objectors now being paid, for example, £1 a day this would cause | anomalies, it was decided to urge that, l in order to eliminate unfairness, the 1 remaining 13s should be made available to some patriotic endeavour. It was also decided to ask the New Zealand Manufacturers’ Federation to inquire into the correctness or otherwise of the statement made to the Press by Mr R T. Bailey, officer in charge of the Labour Department in Christchurch, that firms who dismissed conscientious objectors would be prosecuted. The president of the association. Mr G. H. Jackson said yesterday that as far as was known by the council no member of the association had discharged an employee because he was a conscientious objector. There was no desire on the part of the council to be dogmatic on the question of conscientious objectors, or to start a quarrel with anyone, but the question had been brought forward purely from the commonsense point of view. That applied equally to a discussion which took place on the question of enemy aliens. The impression of the council, said Mr Jackson, was that while in the last 1 war the number of religious denominations that could be invoked by conscientious objectors in support of their apneals was limited, the chief being the | Quaker religion, which had been generally recognised as averse to war, in the present war the number of religions which could be quoted by appellands had greatly increased. ENEMY ALIENS The retention in employment of enemy aliens, particularly in Government departments, was also discussed and the suggestion was made that they .should be interned. Business men, it was stated, were becoming concerned at persons being left at large or work - ing in important positions who elsewhere, and particularly in England were classified as enemy aliens, and were placed in camps or interned, and were only released from internment when they could prove their bona fides. In New Zealand it appeared that such persons were more or less left at large till proof was obtained that they should be interned. This was an important matter in a country associated with the war effort. There was also the effect which such enemy aliens might have on others who worked in the same employment. It was almost impossible at present to tell what the attitude of such aliens was, whether they were for the war effort or were still more sympathetic with the country of their birth. Enemy aliens would not have this freedom in Germany, and the council could not see why they should have it here The feeling of the council was that no general statement of assurance by the Government was enough. It was all very well for the Attorney-General to say that such things were being fully investigated, but the fact remained that aliens were still working for the State. This is one of the matters which will be discussed at a meeting of the New Zealand Manufacturers’ Federation in Dunedin next week.