LETTER FROM QUEENSLAND.

Maoriland Worker, Volume 2, Issue 27, 8 September 1911, Page 12

LETTER FROM QUEENSLAND.

Mr. W. Cornish is in receipt of numerous letters concerning his courageous son's imprisonment for not registering for conscription. ' From so distant a city as Brisbane, Mr. Percy Proctor writes referring to cablegrams anent N.Z. agitation, and says: "We all admire a man who stands by his principles, and I am very glad that there is someone who is brave enough to resist what he considers to be an iniquity. Any coward can join the Defence Force, but he is no coward who refuses to join. It seems to mc to be a very curious thing that the people of Australia and New Zealand should be so ready to proclaim their littleness. All the children are taught at school: 'Beneath the rule of men entirely great, the Pen is mightier than the Sword.' Afterwards wo tell them that we are not great, and insist upon them taking the sword. Isn't it ridiculous? A few months ago I wrote to the Commonwealth Minister for Defence,, protesting against children being trained for the purpose of slaughtering their fellows, and I suggested that it would be much better to teach them how to be friends with all the world. So long, however, as we persist in making wicked laws, so long will the children have to be-taught the art of wholesale murder. I hope that you will continue to act in the way that you believe to be right, and I will do what little I caai to help you."