RELIGIOUS OBJECTORS

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2899, 11 October 1916, Page 5

RELIGIOUS OBJECTORS

CONDITIONS OF EXEMPTION : DEFINED. . , The position of the ""'conscientious" ir "religious" objector under the ( Military Service Act is made clear by the regulations which were gazetted yesterday.. A man may still claim exemption on the score of religious belief; but before his objection is heard by a Military Board he must state in .■writing his willingness to perform '■"non-combatant" service, and if he fails to do this' he remains liable to bo enlisted in the ordinary way. The Military Service Act provides that a member, of the Expeditionary Force Reserve may apply for exemption from service on the field on the ground that "he was on August 4j 1914, and has since continuously been a member of a religious body, the .tenets and doctrines of which declare the bearing of arms and the performance of military service to be contrary to Divine revelation, and also that according to his own conscientious religious Delief the bearing of arms and .the performance'of any military service is unlawful by reason of being contrary to Divine revelation.!'. /...The. Act ■further provides that a'man'.exempted •under this section shall be liable to perform non-combatant services "whether in_ or beyond New Zealand," and "including service in the Medical Corps fend the Army Service Corps." ' The regulations now issued provide that' a reservist who wishes to appeal for exemption on religious grounds must first sign a declaration in the following terms: —

I> ——; , having appealed to a Military Service Board on the ground of my religious objections to military service, hereby -undertake, if my appeal is allowed on that ground, faithfully and willi ugly, to perform such non-com-batant work or services, including service in the Medical Corps ■ and the Army Service Corps, whether in or beyond New Zealand, as may be required of me in accordance of regulations made under the Military Service Act, 1916, and at such rate, of payment as may be prescribed by such regulations. The-regulations, read in conjunction 'with the Actj mean that no member of the Expeditionary Force Reserve can,, avoid-service in the field by pleading religious or conscientious objections. The most that a /man can seoure_ is exemption from, the actual bearing of arms, and in order to do that he must satisfy the conditions laid down in trie clause of the Act quoted above, and, further, undertake to perform non-combatant service at. the front if Required.