THE CALL TO ARMS

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2473, 28 May 1915, Page 6

THE CALL TO ARMS

YESTERDAY'S ANSWER I i SLIGHT FALLING OFF IN THE CITY 1 i 1 BETTER REPORTS FROM OTHER \ PARTS. | ( 1 A slackening off of men desirous of j - enlisting for active sen-ice was experi- ' -enced at the Wellington Recruiting t . Office yesterday, but the reports which ' r came to hand from other centres were ' - mors satisfactory than recent accounts ' of the progress of recruiting in places 1 outside Wellington. 1 By 5 o'clock yesterday afternoon thirty-three men had enrolled—a dozen j , less than had been put through by the > J same hour on the previous day, and 1 , seventeen short of the total for that : r day ' 1 However, yesterday's drop may not j prevent this week from being a record ' recruiting week here. Last week 234 men enrolled, and those figures were j! reckoned satisfactory. Already this week 171 men have registered—eighty-eight ~ on Monday, fifty on Tuesday, fifty on Wednesday, and thirty-three yesterday, j Sixty-three men, therefore, are needed s to equal last week's figures. As Sydney speaks of' its recruiting boom, it is interesting to compare the . New South Wales capital's figures with Wellington. Sydney is seouring men 6 at the rate of 1450 per week. On the population basis, Wellington would be keeping pace with Sydney if it enrolled 180 men in . the week, but at .present it is beating that mark easily, j A noticeable thing about the recruits who present. themselves these days is a that they are mostly well-matured men. f Tho ages of those who enrolled yesterj day averaged something approaching thirty years. There were only a few well down towards twenty years. i The total number of men who had en--1 rolled in the City since tho outbreak of war is 3823. Recently it was stated that the Canterbury district was short of men to ' jnako np its quota for tho Extra Force. I News to hand from Christchurch yes- " terday was to the effect, that this does D not apply to Christchurch, for recruitt ing has been so good there lately that 0 tlio quota has ,beon obtained for the II Extra Force, and sufficient men have B been secured to fill the City's require--1 ments for the Seventh Reinforcements. 6 Auckland City has secured enough I men to complete its share of both the ' • drafts how being called up. h One hundred and twenty men havo - been notified to leave Tima-ru to-mor- ' 1 row en route for Trentham. llese men ' 1 have enlisted from all parts of South , Canterbury. It . It is reckoned that Otago will be s about fifty men short of its quota for e the Extra Force. . Of 116 men who presented themselves for examination -by the Auckland doctors recontlv, 81 were passed as fit. An - almost similar number (115) were f, examined in Christchurch, and the ree suit was that forty-one were declared r fit, thirty-three temporally unfit, and - forty-one were rejected. t The men who enrolled in Wellington s yesterday were: — 0 Geo. Taylor, cook, City. . Thos. B. Proebstel, telegraph lines--1 man, Petone. s Geo. B. E. Russell, clerk, City. James M'Lachlan, farmer, Upper Butt. Frederick Herbert Anderson, farmer, Johnsonville. v Henry Anderson, clerk, City. John B. T. Carruthers, ironmonger, • City. I James Howard Mitchell, cheesemaker, 1 J City. I James Godfrey, cook, City. Herbert A. Kinnear, clerk, City. . 1 Leslie V. Drinkwater, clerk, City, i Richard J. Cotter, plumber, Newtown. 8 Stanley Naylor, mechanic, Masterton. 1 Win. Frank Griffiths, porter, Lower 1 Hutt. r James Dodwell, steward, Kilbirnie. f James E. Miller, engineer, Petone. Joseph Hy. Packham, labourer, New--1 town. Ulisse Robinson, traveller, Lyall Bay. Chas. M'Kinnon, seaman, City. Edwin James Brotigh, bush contractor. Omoana, Eltham. Norman Bennett, grocer, Day's Bay. ] James W. .Wilson, labourer, City. Albert Marshall, cjerk, City. ' Lancelot Alfred Bush, salesman, City. , Wm. A. H. Scott, marine engineer, City. Frank Bower, driver,- City. j 1 Thos. Geo. Walker, physical culture j " instructor, City. 1 Richard Charles Dugwald, railway em- , ! ployee, City. _ ] > James Henry. Murcott, motor driver, , 1 Oanui, Taranaki. 1 Albert George Mills, bank clerk, City. > Robert Watson, engineer, Petone. l L-eonard Christie Williamson, grocer, > Petone. Thos. John Stevens, rider-out, City. Olias. J. Leader, messenger, Newtown. X ] WHAT THE BANKS ARE DOING 1 ' ! ' LEAVE AND PAY. Exception is taken by Mr. R. B. ' Smith, Inspector for the Bank of Aus--1 tralasia, to a suggestion that has been ; made that banking and insurance in- J stitutions are not making it easy for 5 : their employees to volunteer for ser- . ' vice with the Expeditionary Force. 1 "A very general statement has been. ' made." said Mr. Smith, in conversation \ wit-h a Dominion reporter, "about all ■ banking and insurance offices, . and I j! ■ think it is hardly a "fair one. We have been lotting away every man we pos- I sibly can, and I understand that theotlier banks are doing the same. Our j trouble now is that we don't know how . we are going to carry on. We have clost a great many of men, and 1 wo can't fill their places with juniors. { Some banks, I know, have had to fill vacancies by re-engaging men who have retired on pension. All men in our service applying for leave to join tho Force are being given leave, and we and other banks are allowing the men payment of at least part of their salaries. We began by giving our 1 men full pay for six months. That c period has expired, hut all banks arc B making their men some allowance still. 0 In most cases it is half-pay, and in other cases it is more. And, of course, t we are keeping their billets for them v on their return. We are trying to 0 do our best to help, because we recog- 1 nise. as I think everybody else does, T that men aro needed." ■ -c v BLANKS WILL BE FILLED I D IN THE NEW BATTALIONS. '< s 'J The Minister of Defence informed a u reporter yesterday that although he y had not liecn supplied with figures for p the recruiting in other centres, he had c had a- general intimation that progress } had been satisfactory. The blanks would all be filled up, if not by the dis- e trici's which appeared to_ ho short, then by those districts in which there was a u surplus. "1 think," he said, "that f there is 110 doubt that we shall got the two new battalions into camp at full 0 strength at the end of this month. After that we shall have ten days or c so in which to complete tile Seventh 1' Reinforcements." _ ~ The increased separation allowance of f Is. a day to the wives of married 11011- c commissioned officers and privates will f j. Uq payable as from Jua« 1 nest.