The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, The Echo and The Sun. TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 1940. THE BALLOT.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 215, 10 September 1940, Page 6

The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, The Echo and The Sun.

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 1940. THE BALLOT.

For ?ne cause that lacks assistance, For the wrong that reeds resistance, For the future in Ihe distance, And the good that we can do.

The statement made yesterday by Mr. Semple, as Minister of National Service, indicates that decision has been reached on some important questions associated with the enforcement of conscription. How many men are needed to bring the Territorial Force up to war strength, and how many for training for service overseas, the Minister did not say; but it has been decided that all single men, including rejected volunteers, will be included in the ballot, that appeals by territorials will be heard by man-power committees and others by special tribunals, that there shall be no distinction between men who have unsuccessfully volunteered and those who have not volunteered at all and that honorary service may be required in certain eases. Of these decisions, that relating to nodiscrimination between volunteers and others will cause disappointment among young men who have done their utmost to enlist, but, taking a broad view, it is sound. For reasons of military efficiency, and for general reasons, it would be a grave mistake even by implication to attach a stigma to men who are conscribed. There are among those who have never volunteered some "dodgers," but there are also some who have felt the tug of conflicting obligations, and for good reasons have been unable to make up their minds. These welcomed the decision to introduce conscription; There are also the others, often spoken of, but seldom met in person, who long ago decided not to go to the war until the obligation to go was made universal. Their problem, too, is solved. But it would be wrong to assume that either of these classes, once in the army, will not make good soldiers, and worse than wrong to handicap them from the start by distinguishing them from others whose personal problems were easier to solve.

Nothing was said yesterday by Mr. Semple concerning conscientious objectors, a group who in the last war caused a degree of social discord quite disproportionate to their numbers. Presumably it is intended that they should appeal to the manpower committees or the special tribunals. When conscription was introduced in Britain, the then Prime Minister, Mr. Chamberlain, said that in the Great War it had been found "both a useless and an exasperating, waste of time to attempt to force such people to act in a manner which was contrary to their principles." He was referring to the most extreme cases. The British law provides for the creation of a special register. Some men, the extreme cases, are registered unconditionally, others conditionally upon their doing nonmilitary work of national importance' and others if they perform military duties of a non-combatant'character. The local tribunals assign the men to one of the three categories. Mr. Semple might well consider the introduction of a similar system in New Zealand, with the difference that as the number of conscientious objectors will be small one tribunal in each island might deal with them all, and avoid inconsistencies in treatment.