A LEAD WANTED

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2640, 10 December 1915, Page 4

A LEAD WANTED

1 Our criticism of the attitude of the Government towards 'the National llegister as disclosed by a remark of the Ministkr op Defence lias provoked a retort from. Mr. Allen to which we can take no exception. He says with obvious truth that destructive criticism is easy enough, and iie asks his critics to suggest a constructive policy. Before proceeding to follow the course requested by tho Minister,' wo may point out that in discussing the attitude ,of the . Government towards the National Register we condemned the view which Ministers appeared to take, on a number of grounds, three pf which are as follow: (1) That the National Register was not a recruiting record; (2) that it was designed _ to afford the Government definite information as to the manpower of tho country available for military service and engaged in essential industries, and not to enable the Defence Department to call up men who had stated their readiness to enlist if required'; (3) that married men who had expressed their willingness to servo "if required" could not be expected to enlist while single shirkers who had refused to serve their country either in a civil or a military capacity were allowed to escapc their obligations. Mil. Allen asks what can the Government-do with the shirkers. The Government can do a great many things if they, only have the courage to rise to the greatness of tho occasion. Tho objection-to married rnea being .called p« to enlist

while single men are available is not b because anyone desires to spare the , married men the personal sacrifice entailed, but because it means the deprival also of the wives and families of the married men of , their ordinary means of subsistence, , and also because married men ordinarily are embarrassed with finan- • cial obligations of various kinds which single, men do hot incur, and winch, though perhaps small enough in themselves, are in many cases a factor of importance. Time payments, for instance, have to bo kept up or the article or property purchased sacrificed; insurance premiums paid, and so on. Tho pay of a private does not allow any margin 1 for these things. There is furthermore the future of tho children to be and also the cost to tne State in the event of tho death or disablement of the married soldier. If then tho shirking of the single men necessitates tho married men going into the fighting line, the single shirker should bo called on to pay for his lack of manhood. The suggestion we here make to the Goveminent is that-evcry single man who is physically able to fight for his country and is. unwilling' to do so shall for the duration of the war, or for such further time as may be deemed reasonable,- pay one-half his earnings to the State for the benefit of the wives and families of the married men. This tax could ba collccted through the employer, or in cases where the shirker is an employer or in business for_ himself tho Taxing Department might take such steps as are necessary to ascertain . the man's earnings, and collect one-half. As an alternative a substantial poll tax might be imposed in the case of all single shirkers physically fit for service. Surely this is not unreasonable, and it is a practical method of securing some measure of justice., Another suggestion we would offer is that the single shirker should be disfranchised for a long period of years, and debarred • from holding any public office. Why should the man who refuses to fight for his country when its existence is at stake, en joy the same privileges as the men who are ready to risk their lives to maintain those -privileges ? But Mr. Allen, we are confident, knows without anv prompting from us what _ the real answer to the single shirker is. The answer is national service. The Defence Minister, - m'believe, realises the injustice of. the voluntary system, where in a crisis like the present the ,need is so great and the call so universal; he recognises, we believe, the unwisdom on economic grounds of drawing heavily at this stage, or rather in the immediate future, on the ranta of the married ■ men with families while there are still so many single men in the country: but the Minister is a member of a Government which is a slave to the fetish of voluntaryism. Very well; if the Government will not compel the able-bodi<id single shirker to do his duty to his country in ,the manner, best calculated to serve the national interest, the Government can at least'make him pay for his right to shirk, and they can also restrict his privileges of citizenship in the .manlier already suggested,