RELIGIOUS
A social cause of opposition to conscription was religion and Christian faith; people who did not want to partake in the war as it sat wrongly with their beliefs. These people were religious objectors. A religious objector is someone who follows in the believed pacifist footsteps of Christ himself. They believe that war is the denial of the teachings of Christ and use the bible as justification for their belief. In the time of the war, it was hard to qualify as a justified religious objector, where only 73 people were accepted. The New Zealand government recognised that some Christians were genuine in their anti-war beliefs but the criteria was set that excluded most denominations. Exemption from service only applied to religious groups who had declared their faith did not agree with conscription before the war began. These religious groups included the Quakers, Christadelphians and Seventh-day Adventists. The military boards required that the group have a formal written constitution prohibiting military service. These objectors were still required to perform non-combatant duties such as the Army Service Unit or Medical Corps, even though this still counted as taking part in the war for them. Religious objectors who refused to cooperate were dealt with harshly, where in 1917, the Commanding Officer of Trentham Military Camp reported that he was having trouble with fifteen conscientious objectors who continually refused to wear uniform or do any work in the camp. The punishment for refusing an order to put on uniform was a sentence of two years imprisonment with hard labour. MAORI Grievance over the loss of land during the New Zealand wars in 1863, which had remained and led to a strong sense of injustice that motivated Maori from Tainui-Waikato, Ngati Maniapoto and Taranaki to resist military service. Because of this, King Te Rata had adopted the position that no one should be forced to serve. The mana of the first maori King meant a deep respect that honoured the pledge he made that his people would not fight again. When conscription was introduced to Maori in 1917, a campaign of civil disobedience by Tainui-Waikato Maori ensued where passive resistance was used as a form of protest. The Maori community fully stood against fighting for the British, as events of the 1860s, when their land had been confiscated as punishment for being in rebellion against the British Crown, had left them questioning why they should now be expected to fight for the British. By 1919 only 74 Māori conscripts had gone to camp out of a total of 552 men called. The loss of sovereignty was a key underlying cause of grievance that led to noncooperation regarding the war effort in the Waikato but also in Te Uruwera. "They tell us to fight for King and country, well that's alright. We've got a King. But we haven't got a country. That's been taken off us. Let them give us back our land and maybe we'll think about it again." - Te Kiirihaehae Te Puea Herangi, 1917 HUMANITARIAN Anti-militarism was an underlying influence for objectors as many saw war and violence as unjustifiable. Pacifism is the opposition to war or violence as a means of settling disputes, but they should instead be peacefully resolved. Many of the pacifists who opposed the Military Service Act did so because they believed that war, or any use of force or coercion, was morally wrong. Anti-militarists refused conscription or any partaking in the war effort, but their non-cooperation and protest against conscription led to them being punished harshly. The New Zealand government still required pacifists to make a contribution to the war effort, demanding they undertake non-combatant roles. SOCIALIST Socialist Objectors were opposed to conscription as they saw war as an event that would result in rich industrialists who owned arms factories getting wealthier. Many socialist and labour leaders criticised the First World War and strongly opposed conscription for socialist reasons. The New Zealand Labour Party of this time said that 'conscription should not be introduced unless it was accompanied by the conscription of wealth'. Many party members and future Labour cabinet ministers, such as Bob Semple, Tim Armstrong, Jim O'Brien and Paddy Webb, were punished for their opposition to the war and conscription. The New Zealand Government refused to accept socialist beliefs as a genuine reason for men not to fight. In December 1916, party member Peter Fraser was arrested, charged and convicted of sedition for advocating the repeal of the Military Service Act, where he served 12 months' in prison. Socialist union leaders and politicians continued to speak out about conscription, believing it further exploited the working class. Paddy Webb publicly stated that 'New Zealand should resist the Prussian onslaught on Flanders and Belgium' and he strongly opposed any suggestion of compelling men to fight, as well as demanding the immediate repeal when conscription was introduced. Strikes over conscription began in November 1916 where miners bought the repeal of the Military Services Act as well as pay rises. Webb praised the miners' struggle against conscription, leading to his arrest where he was charged with seditious utterance, and served three months in prison. Webb was called up for military service in October 1917, where he decided to seek mandate from his electorate to stay home. The government refused, and Webb declined non-combatant service. He was court martialled and sentenced to two years' hard labour, and was deprived of his civil rights for 10 years. |