UNKNOWN CONSORIPTION BILL.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 28 June 1916, Page 2

UNKNOWN CONSORIPTION BILL.

(To the Editor).

Sir, —KepVhig to my critic "iI.J." puiiimt to say that 1 do not "imagine tlii l l our soldiers have gone to front to gratiiy a giudge against the Geinians." It is your correspondent who imagines that 1 imagine these things. What Ido say is that they have gone to the front "to kill" the Germans and! the Germans will do their level befet "to kili" them; and fuji-tlier-niore, 1 do say that the whole of this bi (.teuiug bus.ness is contrary to the teaching of our Lord Jesus Olirist, whose ''new commandment" is love. But thin Conscription Bill compels me to kill nat only the German fiend, wliu has committed unspaakiable crimes in Belgium, iljut I must also kill my •brother in Christ who is a German, bocause bo is a Geirnian, and only because ho is a German. This indiscriminate sl:iug,iter is perhaps the worst feature ol the war, and I for one will have none of it. And because I refuse to stain my handls with blood (mostly innocent blood) "31. J." accuses"me of Killing to answer the call of Christianity -Christianity, did I sayP Then there must be two kinds: the Christianity of tlie New Testament, fragrant with the spirit of Christ, and that, counterfeit thing—the devil's counterfeit surely—connected with St. Bartholomew, the Crusades and to-day with Europe, where Christian t?) nations a.'-e 'Trilling one another," "red in tooth and claw," whilst the heathens (!) are looking on and in derision say, "Se > how these Christians love one another." I-f this were Christianity, then may I to its <iall be for ever. deaf. —T am, eitc.. mi. BF.'.D. .Fairfield. Levin, June 26th, 1916. Sir.—Will you kindly allow me through the medium of your paipor to express my appreciation of and ctrtatitude for your correspondent's ("M.J.") plain and straight-forward reply to Mr 'Read's article re "conscription." It seems unthinkable tßat an Englishkrtan of the 20fch century «fh<rald have formed such a distracted i3ea of a ''soldier's business," —I am, 060., A sonpnjß's WTFi. Ohaa, June 27, 1010,