DALMATIANS ON FARMS

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3033, 21 March 1917, Page 4

DALMATIANS ON FARMS

DISLIKE FOE. COMPULSION,

"If the Dalmatians in the Auckland district were honourably asked to help

'• in. maintaining tie present .war by. looking after the farms of absent soldiers, they would willingly and gladly do Soj" said Mr. J. S. -Villa, of' Oratia, himself a Dalmatian, to a "Herald" reporter. Mr. Villa added that he made this statement not merely fas his personal opinion, but as a;, summary of tho sentiments expressed to him by large numbers of his ( '■ countrymen with whom ho was in ■ touch. Tho Dalmatians did. not like ' the idea of compulsion'that was sug- • gested by certain branches of the Farm-' ' ers' Union. If, however, they wero ' invited to volunteer he was sure that ' 90 per cent, of' them would come for- • ward for national fanning work. They, • would consider the military wage of' " 6s. a day and their keep excellent pay?; . for such work. Most of tha Dalma-'/ tians in New Zealand were industrious and oapablo men. qualified to undertake farm work, and would give good' value for their wages; and even take it up 'with enthusiasm. Put under a system of compulsion, lie asked what? r certainty was there that tho comraunr ity would receive 6s. worth of work day from any pressed man, whatever ! his nationality. As to the • feelings of Dalmatian settlers generally, Mr., Villa empha-1 sised tho fact that thoy were loyal to the Allied cause, their sympathies being with! their brother Slavs as against the Teutons. "If the Gov* eminent had been prepared to accept! . their services at tho commencement of the war," he added, "there would not,/ I am sure, be one Dalmatian left in t Neir Zealand to-day. At quite an earlystage they 'offered to raise a corps 08 200 men in the Dargaville district. Unfortunately the Imperial Govern-) ment declined to receive them as soldiers, mainly, we. understood, becauser it was considered that any Balmatiansi ' found by the enemy in the British. - . ranks and taken. prisoner would ba likely to be massacred. Nevertheless about 60 Dalmatians who volunteered individually have been accepted for service, including a son of my .own,' and are now fighting with the New Zea- : landers." . ' In further evidence of_the loyalty of the Dalmatians and their merits as colonTsts, Mr. Villa called attention to' their contributions to the variotß WaP. ( fuildfj, and challenged reference _ to thd police records as to their behaviour as law-abiding citizens: As to theirs i numerical strength, he declared thaii the statement which had- been made that there were 10,000 in the Domhw ion was absnrd. His own estimate was, that they did not number more thaai 2000, including farmers, gumdiggsrs,' "j and business ;men.. • .V!