Exemption Granted A Talented Student

Manawatu Times, Volume 64, Issue 306, 28 December 1939, Page 9

Exemption Granted A Talented Student

LONDON, Dec. 1. A claim that he was a mental superior to Mr. H. G. Wells was this week advanced on behalf of a, 21-year-old Bristol student by a university professor. The student, Richard Haig Walters, was granted unconditional exemption from military service by the. British Conscientious Objectors’ Tribunal. His parents called him after the famous field-marshall because he was born in the last week of the last war. Describing Walters us possessed of “exceptional ability,” Professor G. C. Field, of Bristol Univertsity, wrote: “If he is able to continue his studies ho is likely to make valuublo contributions to thought and scholarship. ” Walters told the Tribunal that his objection to taking part in the present war was based on religious and moral grounds. Professor Field, who himself joined the Army in 1914 and was taken prisoner by the Germans, said afterward that while he did not share Walter’s views, he considered it an extraordinary wasto to force a man into the Army when he was exceptionally able unless he himself felt a strong urge to go. “Walters,” he 3aid, “is one of those men who may contribute an influence toward clear and systematic thinking on questions of human behaviour. Such men will be needed after the war. He is about the best student I have had since I came to Briston 13 years ago.” Professor Field added: “He has a different typo of mind from H. G. Wells, and ho has not the same overwhelming flow* of novel ideas, but I consider that he is better than Wells I is now.”