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Salient: An Organ of Student Opinion at Victoria College, Wellington, N.Z. Vol. 11, No. 11, September 22nd, 1948

Workers and Conscription

Workers and Conscription

Take your hat off to J. F. Little: Seldom you get anyone courageous enough to put the college peace-addicts in their place. If you're able to get through Mr. Little's letter in the last Salient without foundering on the frightful hazards of capitals, brackets, quotes and shrieks, you'll be astonished to find how little you really knew about yourself. Provided you're one of those misguided individuals who reckon peace is a great thing.

Nice to know we've got a warmonger or two fiddling with pens on the campus. Nothing like a bit of ink thrown about by these boys to stimulate reminiscence among the ex-servicemen here—especially when the spilt ink dribbles down the Right of the leader-page. Messy? No; examine the stains and you'll find they've got a subject, predicate and maybe an object. Meaning? Search the scribbles.

So Mr. Little thinks it's funny that Stalin should have German scientists on atom research. Funny? Downright amusing. I reckon. How Mr. Little came by this remarkable piece of intelligence is rather obscure. He must work a great espionage system.

But wait; we wrong Mr. Little. Somebody or bodies voted for an anti-conscription motion. Beats me how they could do a thing like that, with Mr. Little all so opposed to it. Shocking cruelty; frightful mental torture. Remember how the early Christian martyrs were used to nourish famished Nubian lions? Come to think of it, though, what did they have to grizzle about? Nobody ever annoyed them with anti-conscription motions. No doubt St. Laurence would have nestled down gratefully on his grid-iron, and St. Sebastian accepted his skinful of arrows with a cheery smile, had he known the hideous torment in store for Martyr Little.

I say, isn't it awfully jolly to know that when the callous Reds start handing bullets around we'll have J. F. Little over there defending British Freedom for us? Mind you, he hasn't said he'll do it, but I don't doubt that when he's finished his task of Study and Logic he'll be showing us how to pick up our muskets.

So Mr. Little doesn't like us defending workers' rights (I know he says the opposite later in the excretion, but you'll overlook these little inconsistencies'. We'll get over it. J.F. In fact, we'll even return the compliment; we'll wish you well in your crusade. After all, nobody ever attacks the Reds, or Russia, or workers' rights, these days. Only the Press. And the radio. Yes, and the Government. The film magnates. Wall Street. General Franco. The Un-American Activities Committees, the Hanlon anti-picket mob, the Ku Klux Klan. Colonel Peron. Chiang Kai-shek, Bob Semple. Sid Holland, Sir Patrick Duff, the Pope. Mr. Little's game, you know, coming out against the workers with only that little lot to cheer him on.

Yes, he's game, all right. Valiant, really. With progressives throughout the world facing prison, batons, vilification, bullets and death for sticking to their beliefs, you can't help admiring anyone who's valiant enough to go around preached resistance to Communism.

Let me know, will you, when Mr. Little sheds his political swaddling clothes, and I'll buy him some underwear of Logic and a three-piece Study suit. You can supply the Crown of David.

So we'll draw the iron curtain of charity down on the remainder of Mr. Little's epistle. And we'll give a little thought to that remark about "Those who live by the sword shall perish by the sword." Spoken ages ago by a crude character, obviously, who would get a chilly reception from Mr. Little and Co., if he tried the same line today.

The Scribf.