THE DEFAULTERS' LIST

Otago Witness, Issue 3383, 15 January 1919, Page 5

THE DEFAULTERS' LIST

BOARD OF EXAMINATION SET UP. (Fboh Oub Own Coebeupondekt.) WELLINGTON, January 9. Under the legislation of last session, objectors to military service and other persons who have shown disloyalty during the war are to be denied civil rights for a period of 10 years. For this purpose a defaulters' list is to be prepared. This list could not be prepared by dimply taking a register of the men who have evaded service arid been sent to gaol. There are no doubt among the men who have refused some men who are not disloyal to the Empire, and in order to meet the case of such men there is pro.vision in the Expeditionary Forces Amendment Act for the Minister of Defence to decide, in effect as to 'whether a man has been in fact a defaulter, or a real conscientious or religious objector, or whether he is simply a defiant objector. The defaulters' list is to contain the names (1) of men who have been convicted by court-martial of any offence of such a nature as to indicate,..in the opinion of the Minister of Defence, an intent permanently to evade or refuse to fulfil their obligations of military service during the war; and (2) of men who have deserted from the forces during the war, or otherwise made default, in such a manner as to indicate intention on their part to evade service permanently ar.d men who have illegally failed to enrol in the Expeditionary Force Reserve. The Minister of Defence, however, may remove the name of any man from the defaulters' list if he is satisfied that refusal on the part of this man was due to bona fide religious objections to serve. Tho Act loaves the Minister a deal of discretion, and in order to have some intelligent assistance in the exercise of this discretion the Minister is setting up a board to examine the cases of the defaulters, and to report to him upon them. _ It is understood that the board will consist of one military officer and two civilian members. The two civilians will be Mr M. J. Mack and Mr C. E. Matthews (head of the Prisons Department).