They would not fight: being a survey of the position of conscientious objectors and military defaulters in New Zealand during World War II

Abstract

This thesis, concerning the treatment of conscientious objectors and military defaulters in New Zealand during the Second World War is both a historical record and a commentary on the administration of the war-time emergency regulations as far as they had any bearing on this topic. The theoretical implications of this subject as a whole, as well as of various detailed aspects of it, are, I believe, of the greatest importance to the political scientist and the administrative lawyer as well as to the philosopher and the theologian. The scope of this work does not allow me to do more than point to these implications and to suggest some practical steps which in, the light of these theoretical considerations, might usefully have been taken. Broadly speaking, the whole field of liberty in the democratic state is opened up by this subject. The dual issues that arise are how far this liberty can be extended in a time of national crisis and how far the individual citizen, by reason of his sincere convictions, is entitled to stand aside from the common action in which the members of the state are involved.