CORRESPONDENCE

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 63, Issue 4465, 18 August 1941, Page 4

CORRESPONDENCE

OPINIONS OF OUR READERS. MR LEE AND THE C.O.’S. | | Sir, —Speaking in the House on i Friday last in favour of uniformity I in Appeal Board decisions, Mr J. A. ! Lee said that people had been appointed to the tribunals who were- not ' soldiers in the last war, and 'these ! men appeared to be the most feroci- ! ous of the tribunal members in their 1 handling of conscientious objectors. A ; strange fact, and one which we have | no doubt has much interested Mr Lee I the psychologist (and be it said in i fairness to the member for Grey Lynn ‘ that he is more of a psychologist i than most of his fellow parliamentari- j ans precisely to the extent that he h 1 a psychologist at all). A similar • paradoxical state of 'affairs is evident J in the attitude of the general public • to the conscientious objectors as I compared with that of our soldiers, j In seeking to show his own patriotism I by questioning that of others, ana 1 vainly searching for someone even | mlore inactive and apathetic than himself, the idle civilian showers his abuse on the “ conchie.” Again, in politics least sympathy is often found where most could justly be expected. A pregnant psychological truth emerges from a consideration of the respective war-time lives of the “Daily Worker” and the “ People’s Voice,” and in New Zealand it is not from the ranks of Conservatism that the loudest and m.os' fanatical voice in condemnation of the Communists comes (or came ?) Truly, Sir, the antipathy of acid and alkali is nothing to that of a dilute solution and one of greater concentration. The incident to which I referred at . the beginning of this letter is significant also as signal proof that Mr Lee is something more than a skilful vote catcher. Definitely on this occasion the Leader of the Democratic Labour Party has defied public opinion, so carefully moulded. and nurtured by Propagandist Doidge and Party Whip Broadfoot. Come there must* a day when his bitterest opponents will grudgingly admit that the make-up of J. A. Lee can boast a rare sincerity and depth of conviction.—l am, etc.. LAVEN G RO. CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTORS.

Sir, —I wonder if conscientious objectors realise that the present war is a very different affair from the last World War. In this war the very existence of Christianity is at stake, which was not the case in 191418. In the last war the “conchies” were quite justified in their attitude towards it, but not so in this one. With the fate of Christianity in the balance it is the plain duty of every earnest Christian to come forward and do their utmost to help in its preservation, either in the ranks of fighting shoulder to shoulder, along with the other brave lads, or in performing other essential work to help defeat the designs of Satan. By standing aloof, declining to move a finger in defence of Christianity, they are actually proving themselves traitors to the Master they profess to serve. There should be no conscientious objectors in this life - and - death struggle for freedom and Christianity. There is not the slightest doubt that if Hitler became world ruler, as he aims to be, his next move would be the persecution and destruction of Christianity in all its forms. Are we going to stand aside and allow Christianity to be overthrown without making an effort to help avert such a catastrophe, or are we going to gird on our armour and fight for its existence?—l am, etc., PATRIOT. Ngahape.