FOULING THE NEST.

Otago Witness, Issue 3100, 13 August 1913, Page 61

FOULING THE NEST.

TO THK EDITOR.

Sir, —Find enclosed letter of Gerald Dee, Wellington, which was published in Reynolds’s Newspaper of June 22, 1915. Would you please publish same in the Witness, us I think it is about time some Minister was goin.tr bogging for money for some of our Southland roads; and oblige.—l am, etc., J. ft. Hunter. Wrey’s Bush, Southland. CONSCRIPTION IN NEW ZEALAND. TO THE EDITOR. Sir, —Your valuable article on conscription has arrived jus! in time to awake hundreds of New Zealanders up to their responsibilities in respect to this devouring octopus. The very linaueial position of New Zealand to-day proves that ere long militarism, with its ever-devouring maw. will not only have sacrificed the national spirit of New Zealand, but also ruin her industrial and educational prosperity. Conscription in New Zealand has been claimed as the will of the people despite the fact that 13.000 youths refused to register. despite tile fact that thousands of youths have never attended a drill since the Act game into force in New Zealand; also despite the fact that almost every Police Court throughout the land has its daily or I weekly hatch of military prosecutions to i deal with. Fully 100 youths have gone to j prison rather than undergo a military life, j New Zea’and is spending huge sums upon j military finery and salaries, whilst her | Minister.;, like beggars, are appealing in the | I/Oiulon money market for loans to carry on the public works of the eountry. A huge land monopoly also exists in New Zealand. Thousands of New Zealanders are denied all rights to any share in (he land of their birth. Our cities are growing in leaps and hounds whilst thousands of hungry acres of land await cultivation. A hading 'lory English statesmen holds r-ix square miles of virgin land—land that is demanded for eiiltivat ion, nevertheless, if cannot be had nn'ess an exorbitant price is paid for some. The position of the backblock farmer for the want of roads to civilisation is a standing disgrace to British legislation. Whilst a million of money has already been spent upon conscript ion, the farmer appeals in vain for reads and bridges, 'i oting wives have committed suicide owing to mental slavery and worries endured in the wilderness. Wellington. Okrai.d Dick.