A PLAIN ANSWER

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 175, 13 April 1918, Page 6

A PLAIN ANSWER

Because a man happens to bo a member of Parliament and a lawmaker he should be. permitted to break the law with, impunity. That is the only logical interpretation to be : placcd on the request made by the friends of Private Webb, M.P., to tho Prime Minister yesterday. Private Webb wilfully and deliberately refused to serve bis country and defied the law. He knew the penalty and quite openly said he would rather go to gaol than fight in defence of the country wjiich he has been glad enough to make his .home, and in which he has enjoyed the privileges of citizenship in its clays of peace. It is an extraordinary thing that anyone should at any time regard such a man as deserving of any special consideration. That at a time like tho present, when the nation is face to face with disaster, when the loyal and ungrudging help of every eligible man is needed to stave off a defeat that would be calamitous to all; that at such a time a body of men should have the effrontery to ask that the law should be stultified in order to grant special and unexampled privileges to one whb has acted so miserable a part as Private Webb has done affords an amazing example of inability to realise the perils of the hour and the obligations of loyal _ Instead of Private Webb's position as a membef of Parliament entitling him to special consideration, it aggravates his offence. The Prime Minister spoke very plainly and very . convincingly to yesterday's deputation, and though he may not havo convinced its members of the- utterly unjustifiable nature of their request, there is no doubb at all that the public generally will heartily endorse Mr, Massky's' remarks a-ncl applaud his decision.