A CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTOR.

Taranaki Daily News, 22 June 1917, Page 7

A CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTOR.

UNUSUAL CASE AT NAPIER. Napier, June 19. At to-day.'s N,api er sitting of the Military Service Appeal Board the appeal of John Ramesea Oiley, second assistant master at the Hastings North School, was dismissed. Appellant appealed on the ground that to serve would mean violating the laws of God, and that it was contrary to Christianity to bear arms. He quoted numerous verses from the Bible, which, were combated by Captain Calvert, who in turn quoted St. Luke sx, 38: "Then? said He unto them, But now he that hath a purse let him take it, and likewise his scrip, and he that hath no sword, let him sell his garment and buy one." .He also referred»to the command to turn ploughshares into swords. Appellant, in answer to •Captain Calvert, said the Belgians shmttd not have repelled the Germans by force of arms. He could give no example where the Word of God forbade the hearing of ■arms, and he would have no objection to fighting in a righteous army commanded by God. Mr. Poynton: You quoted, "Those who kill by the sword shall be killed by the sword." If you <lo not do it you are not obeying the Lord. Who is to kill those brutes if we don't? The board expressed regret that a man with appellant's ideas should teach in a school where there were 420 pupils. Appellant said he had resigned his position.