MILITIA DRILL.

Hawke's Bay Weekly Times, 31 December 1868, Page 317 (Supplement)

MILITIA DRILL.

[We do not in any way identify owrselves witli the, opinions of correspondents.J

To the Editor of the Hawke's Bay Timet. Sir, —The following are a few of the many arguments advanced by men evading Militia drill .I.—l am exempt by ah Act of the New Zealand parliament, which exempts any person that has held a commission in the Imperial service. I held that position, and that should satisfy any right-minded man; ; 2. I am a gentleman, and have always been used to good company • and I think it an*insult, or want of common sense, to expect me to drill or parade with a company of laboring men and mechanists.^

3. —I have militia drill this five years past, and I think it very unreasonable to expect me to attend now after such a lapse of time. Besides, I am a particular friend .of Mr M £ L., and,*no doubt, rather than see me doing the “goose step”' in No. 1, he will recommend me for a captaincy; although they are, as yoix, Mr Editor, very often say,.“crowded out.” But I mean a captain without, his company. 4. I claim exemptiph by an Act of. the/ New Zealand Parliament exempting teachers receiving Gore nment pay. Now, if the Government is so hard up that they cannot even give us our little bonus of £SO or £6O per year, I am sorry for -it, but as I hear the tax-gatherer will go round in a short time, will once more be drawing Govemmeht pay—so legally exempt. 5. —I claim exemption from the very fact that I was once in America, and paid a pound into the revenue of the - stars and stripes, and/ in return I got a certificate of nationality to certify that I was legally Yankee washed., ' X'; adinjt that I also got a protection from the British I find both a gi’eat advantage in travelling-—the former in New Zealand and the, latter in America.—l am, &c.,

A Briton.