THE DESERTER

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2866, 2 September 1916, Page 7

THE DESERTER

Sir,—ln your issue of Thursday, the 24th inst.,*j ,<)U give the prominence of editorial comment to tlie subject of ; the now notorious though still officially nameless, New Zealand deserter. I: have no need to toll you that The Dominion is widely read in both town and country, and it is_ surelv unfair to spread' an impression that - the traitor is of British parentage, "llie nam© of the man . . . is not that of a foreigner, 5ay..... In recent letters from soldiers at th.e front, letters passed by the censor, the name given is that of a man of foreign parentage on both sides. The writers in several cases I know of were personally, acquainted with tlio man before__cnjisting, and, going from the same district, are not likely to attribute disgrace to their own home town without good cause. I lived for a, time in the same district as tbis man and his parents, an<J always heard them spoken ot as Germans. They are certainly foreigners. With regard to the .name, a good deal depeiids on tlie spelling. As ifc' appeared; when he was posted as missing a few weeks ago, and therefore probably as he gavo. it when enlisting, it lias not- a foreign appearance. ■ This is not the correct spelling however, the letter "d" being omitted before the final. On the mother s side, somo of the relations are oldestablished and, I believe, well-respect-■ed German settlers. '. . .While the sense of personal grievance had something to do with the desertion, it is a fact that tlie man was spoken of before leaving New Zealand as being at least lacking in sympathy with the cause for which he wa& going to fight, and rumours of an unsatisfactory nature readied the district after he had left. In fairness to soldiers of British or even partly British parentage, will you inquire into my statements?—l am, etc., ■ CARTERTON. [The man whose name has freely mentioned as that of tlie alleged deserter, is, as stated by us ,on August 28, suspected of being of German parentage. The spelling of the name; does not indicate German parentage, but as our correspondent mentions, one letter may have been omitted from it. It is' practically certain that the man in question is of foreign extraction and probably of Geiman dsscent.l