BALLOTING FOR MEN.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 215, 10 September 1940, Page 9

BALLOTING FOR MEN.

REJECTED VOLUNTEERS. INCLUSION OF NAMES. WELLINGTON, Monday. la a further statement to-day the Minister of National Service, the Hon. R. Semple, said considerable misunderstanding existed regarding the issue of certificates of enrolment to first division reservists who had volunteered for overseas service and had been rejected on medical grounds. Such men, said the Minister, remained members of the first division and, as such, were liable to be called in a ballot and required to undergo a further examination by a medical board. Many of these men would previously have been rejected for comparatively minor defects, some of them of a definitely temporary nature. It would obviously be unfair to exclude them from ballots when by the time they were drawn they might have regained perfect health. The Minister also said the Government had decided that a departure would be made from the procedure followed during the last war with regard to gazetting the names of men drawn in ballots. The procedure then was to indicate men who had previously volunteered by inserting a star before their names in the printed lists. This would not be done on this occasion, as it was not desired to make any distinction between those who volunteered and those selected for service by means of the ballot. "However," the Minister added, "the Gazette notices will contain a statement that names appearing in the list include men who volunteered and had been found to be medically unfit."—(Press Assn.)