A TELL-TALE LETTER

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 127, 15 February 1918, Page 7

A TELL-TALE LETTER

ABOUT CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTORS PLAIN TALK BY MR. MASSEY The Prime Minister makes the following comment on Mr. Holland's campaign in favour of tho conscientious objectors. Mr. Massey does not follow Mr. Holland further in investigation •>f the statements as to Low the men were treated, but ho quotes a letter to show that conscientious objectors may not always bo deserving of sympathy. Mr. Massey's statement follows:— "There is just one.point 1 wish the people of this Dominion to thoroughly realise with respect to tho mon for whom Mr. Holland is endeavouring to create a great deal of unnecessary sympathy as the 'victims of atrocities characteristic of. the conscript service of Prussia,' etc. "I desire to make it nlear that so far as the statute law of this country is concerned tlieso men are not conscientious objectors, but soldiers of the Expeditionary Force who have been called up with their fellow citizens by ballot to take their share in the defence of tho country of whose privileges and protection they have talum full advantage ; and that so far as tho Defence Department, which has to administer that law, is concerned, they must obey orders just the same as their follow citizens' do, and bo prepared to accept the consequences of such refusal. Theso men cannot be allowed to place themselves superior to' the will of Parlia ment and obey no law but their own inclination. If this is -.oleratcd we will soon see an end of all decent order and government and a state of affairs such as is now wrecking unfortunate Russia. "I want every father and mother who havo sons fighting and dying in defence of our liberties and civilisation, and 'for the service if freedom,' not to be led away from the real issuo. which is, that these so-called 'religious, conscientious, and Socialistic' objectors demand the right to accept and . enjoy all the benefits accruing from tho sacrifices of the sons of New Zealand but repudiate their obligations to share m these sacrifices. ' "Mr. Holland has made many statements and quoted many letters in the interests, as he says, 'of the brokenhearted mothers of New Zealand. I think it is just as well that the parents of. New Zealand generally should be given an opportunity to gain a clear conception of the lofty principles and ideals which animaxe some of these martyrs in the cause or conscience. The following extracts are from a letter which was written by the parent of a 'oonsciemtious objector whose conscience only developed after liis appeal on all other grounds had failed and his claiiu for exemption had been dismissed:— . 4 ]/m afraid all this villainy is having a bad effect on us. David satisfies me. May 1)0 go down quick into hell, 'may his flesh"he torn by dogs, may his name be obliterated. Relax all the law "Thou slialt not kill," and you 11 find ton thousand dead within one week. ... A father of a returned soldier told mo this morning that tho French so hate the British and colonials that they refused them the use of their wells, and at the Sommo the French women preferred to go behind the German lines to being loft to our troops. • Aii American reporter has said that without a million American troops wo cannot break the Herman line. Good job, too. Well, whero are wo to go after the war?, Im sick of the Union Jack. For thirty years it has been bloodsoaked without cessation Wo English are played out. There's no good in. us. Wo are a net of brutal thieves. There's a Socialist colony in California. . . . Our real enemy is alive, and none seem to move'. . . . Curse them as Elijah did, and aa all did, curse them. Will no one come out? Will not one rovolt ?, Ouvso them. Our so • them hard. ought to dio, for they are not only useless but a stumbling-block, and by God s laws ilicy should die a slave s death. . . . Damn them, they are rotten. By heaven, the wholo country is rotten —absolutely rotten. . . . I'm regretting all the time now that you ever went near these people. It is my first close experience of "soldier" and I find the great'mistake; they are scum, not fair, straight people, hut criminals worse than gaolbirds. . . . Tho idea of fighting for such filth makes one sick. K . . I'd love to change places with you now. Id take the oath, and by God I'd lull all I could of these black-hearted scum. Curse them. No Australian blacks are lower. . . . Wrigglo out if possible, and don't he particular. Once you get- away from thorn you can manage till we can leavo them to the Japs; May tho Japs mutilate every cursed man and rape every woman. War they want—let them go there—we want—let thein go there—wo don't want it. . . .. Curse them. God curse and blight them. . . . One tiling you may bo sure about —if wo British get a complete victory it will he our last; we shall ho intoxicated with our hellgot gains and pride and power, and, iust ai Rome gained some tremendous battles at her downfall, so with us. . . . I'm thinking that tho ivar is steadily proving the superiority of. the Germans at every point.' ".

STATEMENT BY SIR JAMES ALLEN

By; Telegraph— Press Association. Dunedin, February L-l. Commenting on the recent, reference by Mr. Holland concerning oonscientiouß objectors, the Minister of Defend states that the fourteen men to Whom Mr. Holland referred couid not all ba classed as conscientious objectors. Five had' alleged conscientious objections, which the Boards rejected, fivo had appealed on the ground of hardship and public interest, and did not allege conscientious objections, and four did not appeal. No promise was ever made by Air. Massey, Sir Joseph Ward, or Sir James Allen that the men would not be forc.?d to wear uniforms. The real religious objector, when exempted by a board, did not wear a uniform, and did service with the Agricultural Department. None of these men were entitled' to this course, and most of them had not attempted to pl'Ovo themselves within the category. The Defence Department knew as much about these men as it knew about any other soldier that was embarked, and readied the other end. It was impossible to keep a record here of every man's movements.