MILITARY SERVICE.

Taranaki Daily News, 13 June 1916, Page 3

MILITARY SERVICE.

THE COMPULSION BILL. OBLIGATIONS AND EXEMPTIONS. (Special Correspondent). Wellington, June 9. The Military Service Bill made good progress through committee yesterday afternoon and evening, the factious section of the Labor Party having abandoned its obstructive tactics, and shortly after midnight the measure was reported to the House without any very material amendments. The Minister of Deience was in a conciliatory mood, and his attitude was reflected Sii the temper ot the House. There was a spirited discussion on the question of exemptions following upon the Minister's amendment to clause 29, which had previously provided that an employer might appeal fOi the exemption of his employees without any of the heat that had been displayed at some of the previous sittings. The effect of Mr. Allen's amendment was to provide that an employee should be heard at any appeal in which his employer sought to secure his exemption, an arrangement eminently fair and reasonable. A great deal was said during the discussion about 'Sshirkers," and much of it went towards confirming the popular suspicion that numbers of people in comfortable circumstances are not doing their full duty in connection with the war. The specific instances quoted by Mr. Wilford and the general statements made by Dr. Newmand Mr Nosworthy left little doubt on this point. THE CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTOR.

The question of exempting ihe conscientious objector which ivas seriously tackled by the Minister of Defence on Wednesday may be revived before the Bill fina'lly readies the Statute Book. There is a very general feeling among members—not shared, it would seem, by Mr. flornby and Mr. Harris—that the Quakers, whose religious beliefs prevent them from undertaking military service, are entitled to consideration in this respect, but the difficulty, of course, is to distinguish the genuine conscientious objector from the man who assumes a conscience for the occasion. Mr. Allen sought to solve the difficulty by exempting the man "who objects to military service on the ground that such service is contrary to his religious belief,'' with the provision that-he snould undertake such non-combatant service as might be required of him by the military or civil authorities. The Minister's proposal was rejected on a division by twentynine votes to twenty, but it is significant that the Prime Minister and the Minister of Education voted with their colleague while the Minister of Finance, who was paired against the proposal without his knowledge, has since placed himself at liberty to vote as he mayplease. It is understood that meetings of the clergy are being arranged in all the large centres to urge upon the Government the propriety of reconsidering the matter, and it is quite possible more may be heard of it in the House later on. The British Act provides for the ■exemption of Quakers, who are doing splendid work in a non-combatant capacity at their own expense both at Home and Mr. Isitt and Mr. McCombs "strongly resented the aspersions cast upon the Quakers by the member for Wairarapa and the member for Waitemata, and lobby gossip suggests that the majority which rejected the Minister's amendment and included si\ Cabinet Ministers, is not half so confident as it was on Wednesday that it had done the right tiling. THE ATTITUDE OF LABOR.

Many hard things have been said of the attitude of the Labor Party towards the Bill, and it must be admitted thatsome of them have been \yell deserved; but it would be unfair to associate members like Mr. Veiteh, Mr. Hindmarsh and Mr. Walker with the indiscretions o? their less responsible cblleageus. Mr. Veiteh, as everyone knows, is a confessed supporter of compulsion, holding it to be the only means by which equality of sacrifice can be secured; but he has striven as zealously as the most ardent of -his colleageiis to make the measure just and equitable in all its details. The member for Wellington South, the sturdiest democrat of them all, takes the view that the Government should have provided better pay for the soldiers and made better'provision for their dependents before resorting to compulsion, but he is not prepared to carry his opposition to the length of imperilling the Dominion's obligations to the Empire in the present crisis. Mr. Walker has contributed his share to the demonstration against compulsion, and has delivered one or two excellent little speeches during the debate, hut he has not gone outside the bounds of legitimate criticism and has never omitted the courtesy due to his opponents. It is whispered about the lobbies that the Labor Party is not a very happy family, at^ least jone member contemplating severing his connection with the organisation in consequence of recent happenings, and it will not be surprising if another gvoluj of progressives, still owning allegiaiu\ to the Libera! Party, takes shape' before the end of the session or early in the next recess. ■ A (iEXERAL VIEW.

(Probably not a single member of the House ia entirely satisfied with the Military Service Bill as it has emerged from committee. It is necessarily made up of compromises in which no one gets exactly what lie wants. Hut the principle of compulsion has been accepted with a good grace by a large majority of the members, and with a conviction that if'the principle should be brought into operation it will be tactfully administered by the Government. Many people believe that the provision of the necessary machinery to enforce military service will fill the ranks of the Reinforcements without further trouble, and there is some ground for hoping their faith will he justified by results," hut if voluntaryism is maintained in this way it still will fail to reach the men who are evading their duty to the State, the men indicated by Mr. Wilford and described by Mr. Newman and Mr. Xosworthy, reliable witnesses whose word cannot be doubted. The Recruiting Board, however, is not relaxing its efforts, and with the information now in its possession it can mafce personal appeals to the young men who are preferring the comforts of their homes and the joys of the racecourse to the strenuous life of the camp and the trench. Invidious comparisons are being made between the small farmers and the large in their response to the country's call, and between the farmers generally and the workers; but it would seeiii from such statistics as can be obtained that, speaking generally, it is the individual that is not any particular class, and that in the last resort indiscriminate compulsion is the only fair was.