SEAMEN AND CIVIL RIGHTS

Evening Post, Volume XCVIII, Issue 39, 15 August 1919, Page 10

SEAMEN AND CIVIL RIGHTS

APPEAL PERIOD EXTENDED. . A request that, in the case of seamen disfranchised "under the belief that they were military defaulters, they may have the right of appeal against: their disfranchisement any time during the ten years of their suspension of civil 'rights, was recently made to the Minister of Defence by the executive of the Federated Seamen s Union. ,The following reply from the Minister has been received by Mr. W. T. Young, general secretary of the union: —

"I duly received your letter of the 25th ultimo, in which you draw attention to the inclusion in the gazetted list of • military defaulters of the names of some 236 men described as seamen, sailors, . donkeymen, greasers, firemen, marine firemen, seafarers, and trimmers, and ask that, in view of the nature of the occupation of these men and the fact that they have followedl their calling in different parts of the world, the period of time in which appeals can be lodged shouldl be extended. This matter has been carefully considered, and I have now to advise that the Defence Department is prepared to consider the question of removing the names of any-of'these men that you. can,*, certify ' to 'of ' your "own knowledge as having been bona fide members of the mercantile marine at the time of the passing of the Military Service Act, and as having, to the best of your belief, followed their calling during the war period. With respect to the others, it is not considered necessary, to extend the period within which appeals may be lodged, as section 10 of the Expeditionary Forces Amendment Act, 1918, gives' the Minister for Defence full authority to delete from the list of military defaulters the names of any men that "have been inserted therein in error. There is no limit of time within which the Minister may exercise this authority. Any bona fide member of the mercantile marine, therefore; whose name appears in the list of military defaulters, and who, on his return to the Dominion, is able to produce satisfactory evidence that he has followed his calling during the war period, will, at once have his name considered for removal from the list. This course, therefore, will 'give any of these men the right to apply for the removal of his name from the defaulters' list during the whole period cf his term of disqualification." .