A MANIFEST INJUSTICE

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3086, 17 May 1917, Page 4

A MANIFEST INJUSTICE

The increasing demands of the war are giving importance and urgency to some questions which have hitherto been allowed to remain in aboyanco. One such question concerns the treatmont of men of military age who are not subject to internment as enemy aliens, and' yet in practice are not called upon to serve under the provisions of the Military Service Act.. The total number of men in the Dominion occupying- this spmewhat advantageous position is fairly large. Cases have arisen periodically before the Military Service Boards in which enemy origin—as for instance when a man born in New Zealand is the son of an unnaturalised enemy alien —has been made a ground of exemption. No doubt it is right as a matter of general policy that such men should be excluded from the Expeditionary Force. In many cases there is no reason 19 suspect their loyalty, and it is indeed no secret that men.have served with the New Zealand forces in the field who .would have been rejected as recruits had their nationality and origin been subjected to searching scrutiny. But some men are now being called up under the ballot system who are- obviously disqualified by reason of their origin, even though they have lived all their lives in New Zealand ilnd are very probably good New Zealandcrs. The possibility that even a small proportion may.hold enemy sympathies is quite sufficient to justify their exclusion. This, however, covers only a part of. the problem raised. It is-necessary that the Expeditionary Force should be- rruarded from a possible danger, and at the same time it would be unfair to visit any positive penalty upon men who are excused from military service because of a remote possibility that some of them may bo disloyal. But the position at present is that these men are given an unfair and pronounced advantage over citizens 0? the Dominion who aro in all respects qualified to serve their country in the field. In the conditions created by, the absence of an increasing proportion of the able-bodied men of the country on military service, the advantage will naturally be accentuated. Whether i(i the labour market or in the domain of business in town or country, men rejected for the reasons touched upon will definitely benefit by the withdrawal of those who join the Expeditionary Force. A remedy for the manifest injustice involved would appear to lie in demanding some.alternative to military service of the men rejected on the ground of alien descent, with a View to approaching as nearly as possible an equality of treatment and an equality of sacrifice. Any measures of this kind taken might very well extend to the fairly numerous body of present and former Austrian subjects in North Auckland, who occupy a somewhat peculiar position. These men, though enemy subjects or of enemy origin, belong to subject and oppressed races 1 of the Dual Monarchy, and are believed to regard its ruling races with aversion and hostility. An offer which they made some considerable time ago to servo the Dominion and the Empire as soldiers was rejected, and for practical purposes their case is on all fours with that of the sons of enemy fathers who aro being rejected as they appear in the ballot groups. Perhaps the best method of dealing with men in this position would be_ tb employ them compulsorily as they are called up in the ballot in services connected witE the opening up of land to be occupied by returned soldiers. Land for soldier settlers is already being opened up on a fairly extensive scale, and the number of holdings available will have to be largely increased before the war comes to an end. The roading and improvement of lands to be utilised in this way should therefore provide an ample field of employment meantime on the lines suggested. When the time for demobilisation arrives, discharged soldiers will no doubt speedily become available in considerable numbers to undertake the Government work, on which they will have first claim. But in the existing conditions of an increasing labour shortage men in the class indicated could probably not be.bettor employed than in opening up or preparing holdings for returned soldiers. The rate of payment would bo a matter for consideration, but obviously the object aimed at should be to placo the recipients in no better financial position than that of soldiers who go abroad in the Expeditionary. Force. Whether or not it is found practicable to make an arrangement on these lines, it is clearly incumbent on the Government to find some definite remedy for the conditions at present existing. While New Zealanders arc

called upon lo risk life and limb and make heavy material sacrifices in the interests of their country, it is clearly not right that men who escape the obligation of military service only on account of more or less definite enemy antecedents are not liiercly spared any corresponding sacrifice but are left in a- position to benefit by the withdrawal of the Men on service. Unless it is prepared to ignore a gravo injustice, the Government must deal with the matter in one way or another.