ALIENS.

Waipawa Mail, Volume XXXVII, Issue 7915, 7 August 1917, Page 1

ALIENS.

STATEMENT BY JUGO-SLAV. WISH TO BE SENT TO THE FRONT. "That the Croatians and Dalmatians (or rather Jugo-Slavs, which name includes all of the southern Slav race) are loyal there is not the slightest doubt," said one of the JugoSlavs in the course of conversation with an Auckland pressman. "You are at war with Austria, so we JugoSlavs have been for many years, and will be until we get freedom in our own land, and our country is controlled by our own people. Should any other foreign power try to oppress our people and graft us on the foreign tree, we will not be quiet. We have suffered enough. The Jugo-Slavs are even more bitter against Germans, Austrians and Magyars than ‘ the British people. The feelings of the Jugo-Slavs come from a national point of view, for want of freedom, while the British feelings against AustroHungary are more or less technical, and the Government should treat these men in the same way as New Zealanders, and send them to the front. The French authorities are accepting these men for the firing line in France, or sending them to Salonika to join the Servian army; America is sending them to the front, and I also learn that Australian authorities already have a camp where Jugo-Slavs are being trained for the front. These men will, in a few days, be sent to Salonika to join the Servian Army. They are uniformed and paid Is 6d per day by the Australian authorities, which expense will be adjusted by the Servian Government later. When they leave Australia they will be under the pay of the Servian Government."

The informant concluded: "If this is done in Australia, I cannot understand why it cannot be done in New Zealand. As Mr Vernon Reed says: ‘This would meet their wishes and raise their status.’ To leave them as they are, on account of the Government inaction, looking upon them as enemies, is not satisfactory to us or to the New Zealand public. The Government should be able to settle the Jugo-Slav question for the benefit of both parties concerned."