Military Service.

Wairarapa Times-Age, 20 January 1940, Page 6

Military Service.

The question of the right of slaughtermen and others employed at the municipal abattoir to enlist, will be further considered by the Auckland City Council at a special meeting which has been called for Wednesday. The council resolved last Tuesday to make formal application to the placement officer at Auckland for the exemption of 31 slaughtermen and three others from military serivce on the ground that the vacancies could be filled only by obtaining men from freezing works which were a "reserved industry." A protest was made next day after a meeting of the men. who also asked that the council receive a deputation. War Demands and Dangers. Explaining that it was necessary if New Zealand was to contribute the maximum war effort that there'should be efficiency in industry, the DeputyPrime Minister, Mr Fraser, addressing 1600 men at the Otahuhu Workshops in the lunch hour yesterday, referred to the position of Holland in the event of its invasion by Germany. What, he asked, would happen to Ihe Netherlands East Indies? There would be no Dutch Government and a Pacific Ocean Power—-not Germany—would step in Such a Power was a potential enemy today and not only would the Netherlands East Indies be seized but the same position would apply to New Zealand in the event of Britain going down in the war.