NO DISTINCTION

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 62, Issue 4429, 23 May 1941, Page 4

NO DISTINCTION

THE BIG AND THE SMALL. “ His attitude appears to be that because he is in business in a big way he is entitled to exemption. That is by no means the case. This Board makes no distinction between a man in a big way of business and a man in a small way.” These comments were made by Mr F. F. Reid, S.M., chairman of the Armed Forces Appeal Board, Christchurch, in announcing the Board’s decision on an appeal by John Leonard Wilkins, a building contractor, on the grounds of public interest and undue hardship. Wilkins, whose age is 29 years, gave evidence that he had contracts on hand totalling approximately a sum of £200,000, most of them for the Government. The appeal is to be reviewed in three months. “ The evidence discloses that the appellant is a contractor in a large way on his own account,” Mr Reid said. “On the other hand, he is a young man, fit, and of military age. He is engaged at present on large Government contracts, and he entered these with his eyes open to his military obligations. We view with considerable displeasure that Wilkins, in the last few weeks, has entered into other contracts, not large ones, certainly, but stil) contracts. His contracts must be completed in the public interest, but whether he can get someone to do that, we do not know.”