The Daily News. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 1917. UNDESERVED REFLECTIONS.

Taranaki Daily News, 21 February 1917, Page 4

The Daily News. WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 1917. UNDESERVED REFLECTIONS.

The menib~ers of the Military Appeal Board passed some strong strictures on Monday upon the failure of Taranaki farmers to organise labor to meet the conditions created by the war. One member (Mr. McLaren), indeed, went' out of his way to asperse the name of the province by stating that "there is more concerted action here towards keeping fit young men on the farms than there i 3 towards getting men to take their part in the war." Such an assertion will be strongly resented as unwarranted, unjust, and totally uncalled for. The members of the Board may feel that many of the cases which they are called upon to hear have the appearance Df a desire to postpone military obligations as long as possible, and possibly to escape it altogether. That is because they have failed to grasp the peculiar conditions of the dairying industry. They are quite aware that the manhood oi Taranaki has liberally responded to the call, but it is their unfortunate duty now to be in contact .with the cases that did not see their way to volunteering, and are not even now, much as most of them would like to enlist, able to evolve a scheme that will admit of their joining the reinforcements without sacrificing the hard toil of years. Probably the Board considers that because butter and cheese are fetching such high prices that the men engaged in dairying prefer to make their harvest rather than tight for their country. That is libel on the manhood of the province which in the past was quoted as giving one of the best examples of patriotism in the Dominion. The appeals are not made for the purpose of escaping service, for in nearly every instance ,it transpires that tho appellant's! only difficulty is what is to become of his dairy herd and farm if he goes to the war. It may not be the Board's province to suggest a practical scheme whereby fit men can be secured Cor service without having ,to sacrifice their farms and herds, and that is why the members should be extremely careful to refrain from unjustly condemning a class of men who are contributing not only to the prosperity of the Dominion, but aro providing our soldiers at the front with food supplies. Whatever blame there may be for lack of organisation should be placed on the right shoulders. It is easy enough' for tlio Board to say they should organise amongst themselves as the farmers , 7 in the Wairarapa and Hawke's Bay are organising, but the conditions there are entirely different from those obtaining here. There, it entails no hardship on a settler to keep an eye on his neighbor's sheep or cattle. In Taranaki it is a case of every man working from tarly morn till nightfall, seven days a week, with little or no time for anything else. That is the difference between sheep or cattle grazing and dairying. Now, suppose there was sufficient labor available to maintain production how would the Board propose to utilise it? A farmer going to the front and leaving his farm tc a hired man (who for the time Being was ineligible for military service) would have no guarantee oi that man staying. Therefore, unless he can get assistance from a real friend oi relative he must sell out and probably sacrifice Mb interests. The country haa no right to expect or demand a man not only to risk his life in fighting the country's battles, but to sacrifice his material possessions as well. That is what the Appeal Boards are demanding now.

We don't blame the Boards so much, as they are principally concerned with getting the men of which the country is in need. We blame the Government for not grappling with the problem and organising the country's manhood—and womanhood, too. The time to have done this was long before the Compulsory Service Act was brought into force. It was not too late six months ago. If men'are to be conscripted to fight thev should be conscripted for essential work and take the places of those who are doing the fighting. It is a question of policy just as important as offering to supply so many soldiers a month. Organisation of the dairying industry would have followed. The ineligibles would have been ordered to carry or. the work assigned them, under proper expert Government direction, and not been able to please themselves Provision would also have been made to meet the difficulties of struggling farmers—such as bills-of-sale, leases, and commitments generally. There would then have been fewer appeals, whilst a greater reeling of security would have been felt. But no lead lias come from the "National" Government, which has prefercd to follow a "wait-and-see" policy and to provide opportunity for members of the Appeal Boards to declaim about the want of organisation among a section that has to work like so many galley-slaves. Let the Appeal Board reserve its denunciatory utterances for the party responsible—the Government—and urge it, even at this late stage, to mobilise tho whole of the Dominion for service. At present there is no equality of sacrifice; it is all on the one side—on the side of the eligible men. Give the latter adequate protection of their interests, ,-ind there will be very few appeals for exemption. Let the Government set an example instead of moving the Appeal Boards to grant wholesale exemptions for the Railway Department, the Police Force, the Audit and Customs departments. It is scandalous that partiality of this glaring nature should be shown at a time when farmers and business heads have to resort to all sorts of expedients in order to carry on whilst, their own men are away doing their bit. Lot the Government "dig out" its superannuated men, train more boys and girls, cut out unnecessary work, and generally set a better example; above all, let it come dawn now, even at this late stage, with a scheme defining what are essential industries and what are superfluous industries, and lranie proposals for keeping alive what is certainly a very essential industry, that of dairying. The present policy of "masterly inactivity" can only lead to disaster.