THREE CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTORS

Southland Times, Issue 24833, 27 August 1942, Page 3

THREE CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTORS

y . Defaulters’ Detention 3 Three conscientious objectors to military service were convicted and sentenced to de- " faulters' detention at a sitting of the MagI istrate’s Court yesterday. They were Douglas Cowper Todd (Gore), Douglas Wells (Rlver- - ton), and Edward Stamper Hagen. Cowper s and Wells pleaded guilty to failing to report 5 for military service and Hagen pleaded □ guilty to refusing an issue of Army equip- ' ment and clothing after reporting to the ' Base Training Depot. ' Asked by the Magistrate (Mr R. C. Aber- ■ nethy) if'he had anything to say, Todd re--1 plied that his views remained the same, and - that he must remain true to his convictions , that it was wrong to take life. The Magistrate: Are you willing to serve ’ in some non-combatant unit?—No, sir.. ’ “I can understand anyone not wanting to j take life, but I cannot understand anyone I who does not want to help to save life,” ■ commented the Magistrate. “Would you, if > this place was overrun by the enemy, pass : by any injured man or child, any bombed • I man or child and say, ’I cannot help you. I : cannot save you. You must die?’ ” , The reservist: No sir, not in a case like ' that. ■ Hagen was represented by Mr T. V. Mal- ' oney, who said that Hagen was for five > years a Christadelphian and for 10 years he I had been a Bible student. He was a genuine conscientious objector. In sentencing Hagen the Magistrate re- ! marked that he was going to deal with men ’ who clenched their fists in the face of the [ law and said they would not fight. , RESERVIST REFUSES TO FACE OPERATION [ Stating that he was prepared to serve his country in the armed forces but that he would not undergo a necessary operation to • fit himself for service, George Kirk Murray ■ (Romahapa), a young married man, . was charged in the Magistrate’s Court yester- : day with being a member of the armed forces, he refused to undergo a medical . operation. He pleaded guilty. Asked if he had anything to say, the reservist said he was quite willing to go into camp. "I am prepared to go into camp tomorrow,” he declared. The Magistrate: You are quite prepared to gamble your life for your country?—Yes. Well, why not go to hospital and fit yourself for service?—No, I won’t go into hospital. “This is a matter of common sense,” added the Magistrate. "The military authorities want to fit you for the job. If you go into camp as you are they will have to put you into the camp hospital." The reservist replied that he was quite fit for work as he was. The Magistrate: But as you are, you would be a drag on the Army. I will give you the choice of going into hospital or of going into a defaulters’ camp. The reservist: I refuse to have an operation. “Well, if you are not prepared to go into hospital and gamble your life for your country, it casts suspicion on your avowed desire to serve your country,” added the Magistrate. “You will be convicted and sentenced to defaulters’ detention.”