LAST MAN ON THE FARM.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LV, Issue 16904, 17 July 1918, Page 6

LAST MAN ON THE FARM.

• —i —» , ATTEMPTS TO EVADE SERVICE. . BOARDS NOT TO BE MISLED. 1 Tby telegraph.—press association.] \ WELLINGTON, Tuesday, r A statement with reference to the last , man on the farm and tho attitude of the I j board in regard to appeals, was made by l ; the Acting-Chairman of the First I Wellington Military Service Board, : . Mr. D. McLaren, today; ( He said 'j a great many people had been misled, and certain designing indivi- ! duals were taking advantage of the GovernI merit declaration that production must be maintained. He read the advertisement i from a certain newspaper offering a property for sale, commencing " be the last man on the land," and to which reference has been made in tho South. "I don't know whether the individual who concocted that and sent it forth had the impression that it was going to mislead any military service board," he added. From the commencement his board had been guided solely by it« order of referencesection 189 of the Military Service Act. They had statutory directions, and had carefully considered the matter of keeping up production. It was not a question of military servioe or production, but of military service and production. The Empire had to maintain both. Therefore, the board viewed the question of tho last man on the farm from the standpoint of the actual conditions existing.. There 1 had been numbers of cases where what had been one farm at tho outbreak of the war, had become four or five farms by the time i the appeal reached the board. In other I instances people had bought farms clearly to protect themselves from giving their services to the Empire. The board was not disposed to be thus misled.