A PERTINENT QUESTION.

Taihape Daily Times, Issue 219, 7 December 1916, Page 2

A PERTINENT QUESTION.

A correspondent writes to a city paper apropos of the compulsory service ballot: "I want to ask you why the loyal Britisher should be the only only person asked to make sacrifice? Why is the alien not making a like sacrifice? Why should he be privileged to make gain through our loyalty? He can slip into any place vacated by the loyal man, and reap his harvest of years of work. Is that just—is it right? No! As a worker, I strike this warning to the Government and I hope they will heed it," The querist is not the only one who is asking the question. It is pertinent and to the point. We should keep on pressing it. There are shirking farmers who are actually buying up the holdings of patriotic farmers who are selling out in order to go to,the war. Will those shirkers return those holdings after the war? Only at enhanced values! And the alien in -our midst is also taking every opportunity to feather his nest at the cost of the patriots who are sacrificing their positions in order to answer the call. Oh, for true statesmanship in this vital -hour.