CALLING UP RECRUITS

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2445, 26 April 1915, Page 6

CALLING UP RECRUITS

NEW ZEALAND V ENGLISH METHODS. Mention has been made recently of the imethod employed in New Zealand of enlisting recruits, and the suggestion has been made that the {English procedure would be more effective. For obvious reasons a different system has been adopted. It might be interesting to the public to know what the two systems of registering recruits are. s In England a man who registers at once becomes a member of the Service, and-is at once held under control and amenable to orders. He is next examined by a doctor, and if he passes he may appear half an hour later on the parade ground.

In New Zealand we have to go a little slower. It is impossible to be otherwise. When a man calls to enlist in one of the Reinforcements he is asked to fill in a card giving his name, occupation, and address. With that he is handed two blank forms, which he takes with him to the examining medical officer, who examines the man, takes his measurements, and jots them down on both papers. If the man is physically satisfactory, the doctor writes "Fit" on tlie paper. The man returns to the Recruiting Office (at the Buckle Street Drill Hall),' deposits his papers, and is notified that he is to go into camp when tailed upon to do so. Away he goes back to his work, and in due course ho is notified by post to assemble for camp training by a certain date. He caa please himself whether he turns up or not. If he does not, he is simply marked off the list, and his place is at once filled, but no penalty is exacted. This system is rendered necessary for tho simple reason that all tho men who appear, even if fit, could not be taken into camp at once, because the officers and non-commissioned officers are not available to take charge of (them. It is absolutely essential that the officers and N.C.O.'s should have at least a month's training before the men they are to command go into camp. If the men were taken as they offered, th v officers and N.C.O.'s of the Reinforcoments in camp would have to take charge of men for forward Reinforcements other than their own, and the expense of keeping such men in camp for so long would be a very great drain on the country's finances.

It should bo made clear, too, tliat all the names of those who register for enlistment daily, and whose names are published, do not represent those who actually pass into the Reinforcements. As a matter of fact, 40 per cent, of the applicants are rejected as unfit by the medical examiners, but that record is not so bad as it reads, as the rejects include a large proportion of .undesirables, who endeavour to come upon the country as soldiers, but as most of such aspirants far fame are deficient in some respect, the process of weeding out is not a strikingly difficult one. In the interests of those intending to enlist, it is stated that the applicant must not be under 20 or over 40 years of age, and must be at least sft. 4in. in height to pass the test.