EXEMPTION OF FARM HANDS

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3197, 22 September 1917, Page 10

EXEMPTION OF FARM HANDS

I.- ' ' :' A GRIEVANCE. ; : Exemptions of farm workers from mili- ; tary service were referred to by the- Hon. ; 1). Buddo in the.House of Kepresenta- ;•. ' tives yesterday. In several recent cases ; in the northern district of Canterbury. , ■ men employed on large estates had been, ;. exempted by the Jlilitnry Service boards ;. on the ground that they were .ssential.■ [.;■ On the other hand,'men had l been taken joff coniparatively small fanns, leaving 1.-, elderly.men in charge, who had to empljy i.. labour. There'mis a father strong feel- ;.- ' ing.on' the part of theee elderly formers <; over this matter, they considerinj; that ; ,-■■ the men employed on the larger estates ; could be more easily replaced than the !:. farmers' sous on the small'farms, llr. I 13uddo admitted that the question of ce- ;■: ciding was entirely one for the Military ;. Service Boards, but possibly the Jfinis- '- ter could lay down some general rule en : the subject. ■ Sir James Allen slated that without any ;.. knowledge of special cases it would be ;, very d ; lhcult indeed to answer that ques- ; tiou. He did not see what more they 1 Could do than to leave the matter to an i independent body in tho Military Service ; Board, whose judgment would possibly ; T>e more accurate than opinion in ihe ' i district.