THE SLANDER OF RETURNED SOLDIER M.P.'S

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 12, 5 September 1919, Page 7

THE SLANDER OF RETURNED SOLDIER M.P.'S

AN EXPLANATION. Sir—lt was rather unkind of you to select one item from tho varied assortment of hiirh-clasa reading ma'.ter we pro. vide for all tastes in tho "Worker." However. I will join issue with, you, and I trust von will publish. I believe you • have a school of young gentlemen whom ■ vou are guiding into the ways of correct ' iournalism. and I would suggest that / vou should allow only the more advanced students to deal with tho . "Maoriland. . Worker." The bait was dangled, and vour leader-writer swallowed the hook as well. Mv outlook on life is international. and I refuse, to be bounded by , ctengraDhv. Our own gallant M.P.'s were f not in my mind at all. I will say that r if T lind been one of these favoured individuals. and had volunteered from love of country, I should ppssibly liavo resinned mv .£3OO a year, and gone as common or garden "Digger," and not fl« a. staff officer. So your remarks about

tho M.P.'s leave mo warming myself by tho fire, I think Paddy Webb, if ho had not been a liion of principle, could easilv havo none as a non-combatant, or at lenst as a Red Cross commissioner like "Col." Rhodes, whom you havo unaccountably omitted from your list of heroes. And then there is the truthful T>'. M. B. Fisher, who left a Cabinet uosition to ko to tho war; but was prevented bv tho paucity of commissions from serving, and was advised by no less a Dersonaio than Kitchener or Harry Lauder to servo his country in an "administrative" capacity. Then, again, Sir, there is tho exact definition of "active service" to consider. It is not generally recognised Hint tho war extended to Amcrica, yet we find one of these heroes you mention touring TTncle Sam's dominions, while tho ordinarv common soldier (and I was one of them) was going through unspeakable sufferincr nnd misery in the front lines.

> Possiblv. vou consider my remarks about rum and gut-robbers offensive to the reallv "nice" people you caler for. It is a pity, then, that you should shock them by reprinting them. Then vou sav something about an M.P. breaking down under tho hardships suffered iv activo service. I have never seen or heard of staff officers suffering these thinss: pleaso condescend to particulars. Another staff officer was wounded "badly" whilst ei!?i£ed in the important duty (of course auite indispensable) of measuriwr hav for a mute or camel! Do you know. Sir, that I have been beside officers who have claimed to be "gassed" or "shell-shocked" and got away with it,' whilst "Diggers" have been told to "cut out the lead-swinging." ' Finally I reiterate that I would sooner trust a man like Paddy Webb than others who. under tho plea of patriotism, did not hesitate to draw two or three salaries. ■■ And I will add a ,tit-bit to close • with. I would sooner trust Massey than Ward anv day. Massey,, I believe, to be a man of principle, like Webb. I will leave Ward to the tender mercies of tho scribe who "drp«srd me down" so effectively this morning. The onl;,'_ fault with von* journalistic Napoleon is that he reid into my innocent _ statement eomcthinp that it was never intended to convev. When I said that the workers would nut "paid" to one or two accounts I meant, of course, the Iwllnt-box. I have had enough of bullets—over in France!—l am, 'etc., THE. WHITER OF THE ARTICLE, i Wellinston, September 4. rThe, above letter serves to further illustrate the tactics which find favour the inner circles of extreme Labour. Exnosed in n maliciou e and swe.ening slander of our returned-soldier M.P.'s, the writer rushes for cover under the pretence that he was referring to M.P.'s of some other country than our own. Awl then the slander is repeated by innuendo and suggestion.]