OBJECTORS IN CAMP.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 1763, 11 December 1917, Page 4

OBJECTORS IN CAMP.

ARGUMENTS IN COMFORT,

Trentham camp has at present two large hutments set aside for the flotsam and jetsam of the Military Service system, the deserters and conscientious objectors. , The latter number nearly forty, and the majority have been sentenced to long terms of imprisonment, while the remainder are awaiting, cheerfully, it is said, a similar fate. About twenty of the objectors have religious reasons, and there has b een much amusement among the others owing to the long arguments taking place among the religious objectors, who rely on different texts, and endeavour to prove each other in the wrong. The men are allowed excellent food, plenty of literature, visitors, and the comforts which their friends bring, so that they are not at all displeased with their lot. They look forward to spending their terms on the prison tree-planting areas in the North Island, where a small batch is already at work. Whether the objectors will get the work they expect is at present doubtful,Tor the English authorities have found good use for this class of person, and they might be better able to deal with them than the New Zealand military authorities. Fourteen New Zealand objectors were sent to England several months ago, and a report is being made on the experiment by the New Zealand representatives in England. When that arrives, the future policy in regard to the conscientious objectors now in camp will be decided. Meanwhile, their future is uncertain, but they are comfortable, and as they are all together, they are able to reinforce each other in their passive resistance doctrines. —Palmerston Times Correspondent.