THE R.S.A.

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 63, Issue 4490, 15 October 1941, Page 4

THE R.S.A.

DOMINION CONFERENCE. ALIENS, DEFAULTERS AND OTHER QUESTIONS. Advice has been received in Te Awamutu that a special Dominion conference of the New Zealand Returned Soldiers’ Association, to be held in Wellington on October 28 and 29, will consider the questions of conscientious objectors, defaulters, deserters, aliens and rehabilitation. The regular annual conference was held in May last, but so urgent have been the representations made by branches on the subjects which will form the basis of discussion that the unusual step of a special conference was decided upon. It is to be proposed regarding aliens that they be permitted to enter business under temporary license only, so as not to prejudice the interests of New Zealanders who have surrendered their businesses or professional practices to enter the armed forces.

The subject of defaulters’ camps will also be gone into and it is thought likely even at this stage, the Government having decided on the principle, that representations will be forthcoming from the conference that defaulters be dealt with by the same processes of law, and punishment, applying to other lawbreakers. Another subject for consideration will be a suggestion that deserters and defaulters will be deprived of their civil rights.