A QUESTION OF CONSCIENCE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25717, 13 December 1944, Page 7

A QUESTION OF CONSCIENCE

Sir,—The whole point, of my letter, which you kindly published in full this morning, was to show that hundreds of men who have been adjudged military de--1 faulters are genuine conscientious objectors. Many of your readers would not know that the headings are provided by the editor or sub-editor. They would, therefore, be puzzled by the heading “ Military Defaulters,” which would seem to prejudge the very question at issue. My own suggestion for a heading was: “ Defaulters and Conscience.” I have no doubt that the change was made simply for editorial convenience, but I should be grateful if you would allow me to make this explanation, especially since in some quarters there is a deliberate attempt to evade the issue by labelling all these men 44 defaulters 44 and conveying the impression that they are morally mere shirkers.—l am, etc., . John A. Brailsford. Dunedin, December 12.

Sir,—l have not noticed that any of the sympathisers with military defaulters have rushed into print or sent petitions to Parliament on behalf of soldiers wives who are left at home to manage a fam l l y the best way they cam When the children j are unruly and there is no father to reI prove them, when the 'oldest child is . For ever asking when his father is coming j home, when the youngest child asks if his ' father is dead, when the telegraph boy passes your gate and your heart turns over and you wonder if he is coming in. I when you sit at home night after night alone after your children have gone to i bed, when you know that your husband ' is in tlie battlefield and you realise that I it is -only if God wills it that you will • ever see him again, you realise that there j are thousands of women all oyer New Zealand who feel as you are feeling about some loved one who is overseas. Wo have not rushed into print for sympathy, but when one reads all these letters expressing sympathy for the defaulters I think it is about time everyone knew that we are hoeing a much harder row than any defaulter. I am not 'vindictive towards them. I am just glad that we are made differently. I would not like to think that someone else was shouldering my responsibilities and that I was sitting back and Jetting them do it. I hope every defaulter who is peaceably reading in the evenings and those who are busy at their hobbies and their music and their gardening can hear in their consciences the thousands of little children’s voices that ask so longingly for their father.—l am, etc., Play lip and Play the Game. Otago, December 9.