FARMER RESERVISTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 16671, 16 October 1917, Page 5

FARMER RESERVISTS.

» GOVERNMENT'S NEW POLICY. SERVICE BOARD NOT ADVISED. [BY telegraph.—press association.] HAWERA, Monday. At the sitting of the First Wellington Military Service Board, Mr. R. D. Welsh, solicitor, asked for leave to refer to a newspaper report that a memorandum had been addressed to the Military Service Boards by the Recruiting Board! with reference to a depletion of skilled j farm workers and the policy to be followed. The announcement in the press > had come as a surprise and, perhaps, in due course the board might make some pronouncement as to the position, so that counsel would be able to advise their clients. The chairman, Mr. D. G. A. Cooper, said the board had read the report referred to. For his part, he thought it must be wrong, because he did not think the Government would endeavour to belittle boards and interfere with their authority ts judicial bodies. The military service boards were judicial bodies, j whose functions were distinctly defined by the Military Service Act. The present board, with other boards, had done its duty to tho best of its ability, and sometimes under very distressing circumstances. The board had sometimes to give a decision which it had felt very keenly. He hoped those who had apeared before the board had accepted the oard's decisions, feeling that it had done its best. He did not wish to add anything further, because he thought the newspaper statements must be a mistake. The board had received no communication whatever from the Recruit.irig Board, and naturally it would expect to receive any communication from the Recruiting Board before it appeared in the press. ' Captain Walker said that as military representative he had received no notice of tho memorandum. As representing the Crown, he thought he would have received a copy before it was published in the papers. Mr. D. McLaren concurred in the chairman's remarks. He had at times met with individuals who had suggested that the board was told what to do. That was not so, and never had been so. The board had always given its decisions impartially. It was quite proper for the Government to make any pronouncement of policy that related to public interest, but before any statement was published in the press it should first bo sent to the board or bodies concerned. Mr. G. Williams also concurred with what had been said by his fellow members. There had been, he said, a conference of boards at Wellington recently, when the Minister made highly complimentary references to the manner in which the various boards were carrying out their work, and thanked them cordially for it. It seemed to him, if the statement as reported were correct, it would place the boards in a most extraordinary position. t