CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTORS.

Taihape Daily Times, Issue 160, 17 July 1916, Page 4

CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTORS.

From England they are sending the C.O. (onscientious objector) to France to work in quarries and in camps, doing hard labour near th e firing lines.. Here is an extract from a London journalit’s visit to one of the camps. The next C.O. I talked with was a spectacled lad from London who had been Out only a week. “It’s all right," he said, "takes a little getting used to, but I do my best. Things are not nearly as bad as I expected." I asked hini if he contemplated asking to be put in a ombatant battalion, as one C.O. has already done. ‘<Oh, no," he replied quickly, "I couldn’t do that. ’ ’ They included all types —mostly shop assistants and young men who had led sedentary lives, but Jthere were a few farmers amongst" them.’ A Wesleyan minister ,as io/i and is aii’ officer ’s servant on weekdays— * f qnd:. arc-very gpo,d-j Servant Tie is, too I ’, said, the officer in question ~,j . 'Nearly all of them arq of. the religious sect known as Plymouth Brethren, -but I came upon a curious exception. , ■ j ... “You arc a Plymouth , Brother. 1 ?1 -j asked (he was a man of about -.30) C v J* , v<<No," he replied, ." a Roman. Catholic."' . 'i... . r ■■ .: i <s i io. H Why are you a ..conscientious oujoc;,.. I asked. _ i .-.i; ; >•> "Because I am a Gjerman?” was. unexpected response. This member of the Non-combatant Corps had a shop in the East End of London, .which was wrecked by a mob after a Zeppelin raid. His parents were born in German, and, although he is a British subject, he refused to fight against his father’s people. "They arc much more fit than when they arrived," said one of the officers. "I do not think any of them ever had any exercise! before. They ■were a weedy, hollow-chested, and

anaemic lot. You can see them broadening out and putting on weight. They are healthier than they have ever been in their lives before.”