40 FOR HEARING

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21250, 22 October 1940, Page 4

40 FOR HEARING

| FIRST BALLOT APPEALS CONSIDERATION THIS WEEK i SOME CASES IN PRIVATE I Forty of the 1100 appeals against j military service by men called up I in the first ballot for the Territorial | Army will be heard in Hamilton toj morrow and Thursday, when the first i sittings will be held by the Hamilton District Manpower Advisory ComI mittee. The sittings will be public and will commence at 9 a.m. in the j Winter Show Concert Hall. It is ' expected that the committee will sit i on Friday also to consider appeals ; for which a public sitting is con- ! sidered unnecessary. | Official acknowledgement of every j appeal lodged is being forwarded to ; appellants in the Hamilton military | area from the National Service Dej partment, Hamilton. Additional notices will be forwarded, intimating I the time and place appointed for the j hearing of the appeal, and whether j the appearance of the individual concerned is required by the committee. An endeavour is being made to give every appellant three days’ notice of the time of hearing. Conscientious Objectors A special acknowledgement is being sent to men appealing on the grounds of conscientious objection. This informs such a man that his case has been remitted to the Director of National Service for referj ence to the Armed Forces Appeal j Board, in Wellington. In some cases ! have appealled on other i grounds as well as on the grounds jof conscience. In this class, the ! appellant is being informed that if the Armed Forces Appeal Board upholds his conscience appeal it will be unnecessary for the manpower committee to consider the other grounds of appeal. If the objection on the ground of conscience is dismissed by the higher authority, however, the case will be referred to the i district manpower committee for i consideration on the other grounds, j In all cases the written decision I of the manpower committee will be ! forwarded to appellants when the I case has been heard. An appellant i may be represented by a barrister or . solicitor during the hearing of his appeal, or by any other person apI proved by the committee. Private Hearings In certain circumstances the committee has the power to give sympathetic consideration to requests for appeals to be heard privately. In these cases appellants will be required to state details of their circumstances in chambers before the hearing proceeds. Among the cases to be heard privately by the Hamilton committee are those of ministers of religion or divinity students. * In a case where prior inquiries have satisfied the committee that a man is engaged in an occupation where he should be retained, such as that of a policeman, private hearings will be sufficient to dispose of the appeal. Each of the 40 men whose appeals will be considered this week by the Hamilton committee has already been passed by a medical board as fit for active service. In a fairly large number of cases appeals have been struck out by the National Service Department because men have been declared permanently unfit. No public hearing will be necessary to consider appeals from men who have been classed as temporarily unfit, because at a private sitting the committee will adjourn the appeal until such time as the appellant is declared fit for active service.