Farmers and Military Service.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 6, Issue 245, 26 January 1917, Page 2

Farmers and Military Service.

TO THE EDITOR.] Sir,—ln bis letter to you on the above suhjpet Major Lusk draws attenti'U to what he culls the '• diaingonuous and misleading" headings to your article of the 16th inst. a.'. A my letter of the loth, quoted by you from the "Herald," and " hopes they were used inadvertently, and not of malicious intention." That he has chosen to reply to my letter through your columns, and not through those of the journal in which it originally appeared, is a tribute to the influence of the " Times " of which you may naturally feel proud ; but in justice to you and myself it is only fair to point that we were by no means singular in believing that the motion passed by the Executive of the Farmers' Union meant general exemption for farmers until all other classes were depleted of eligible men. "TheEerald," whose representative reported the discussion, evidently felt no uncertainty about the meaning of the resolution for it headed its report: FARMERS AND SERVICE. OSNBRAL EXEMPTION SOUGHT. CLASSIFICATION PROPOSED. And its sub-leader, in which it characterises the proposal as a quite impossible one, is entitled : CONSCRIPTION AND FARMING. That the motion meant exactly what the "Times" and the " Herald " and numerous correspondents to the press took it to mean, no one who took the trouble to read it and the discussion of it by the Executive could for a moment doubt. If it meant what Major Lusk thinks it did, why did he not correct Mr Gubb, a member of the Executive, when he sjid : "He was opposed to the motion, which was practically a request for the exemption from military service of the whole of those engaged in the farmind industry." Major Lusk's record during* his long term as President is one of which, at any rate, I as one of his oldest friends am proud, and it is evident from his letter that he did not at the time grasp the full significance of Mr Ross's motion, or I feel sure he would have joined Mr Gubb and Mr Makgill in opposing it. Yours etc, HENRY E. R. L WILY. Mauku, 24th January, 1917.