MILITARY DEFAULTERS

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 212, 2 June 1920, Page 7

MILITARY DEFAULTERS

. NEW ZEALAND'S SYSTEM. ' Resolutions have been adopted by ono or two Labour Unions asking that the prosecution of military offenders shall cease, that all conscientious objectors now in prison shall bo released, and that the defaulters' list shall be with' drawn. It has.-been stated in this connection that "conscientious objectors and' other military offenders have been released from the prisons of thb United Kingdom and other countries."

It does not nnncar that New Zealand's practice has differed materially from that of other countries. The men who have been prosecuted recently under military law have been desorters, and no country has granted an anuicatv to offenders of this. tyne. They have been punished when caught in Britain, Prance and the United States. _ Men ivho pleaded conscientious objections when called for service in New Zealand were dealt with by the military authorities at tho time, and those who were imprisoned have since been released. Men who deserted from the Forces are placed by the authorities in a different, category. They include men who took the oath of allegiance, went through their training, and then deserted on the eve of the departure of their drafts for tho front.

Men whose names appear in the Defaulters' List are deprived of civil rights and are debarred from entering the Public Service. It will be remembered that after the signing of the armistice the Minister of Defence set up a Comniissjon to investigate individually the, cases'of men who had been imprisoned for refusing to «ervo. The men who were considered by this Commission to be genuine conscientious objectors were not included in the Defaulters' List. Since then names have been withdrawn from the list whenever the Defence authorities have been satisfied that (rood cause has been shown. The list as it stands is fully operative.