STATEMENT BY DEFENCE MINISTER

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2476, 1 June 1915, Page 6

STATEMENT BY DEFENCE MINISTER

REPLY TO CRITICS SYSTEM BUST NOT BE CHANCED. 1 ''What I have, said about married men enlisting has been misinterpreted," said the Minister of Defence to a reporter yesterday. "I have never urged married men to enlist. I was 'asked my opinion as to the duty of 'married men, and I gave it. I did not say that it was, the duty of married- men to enlist, and I do not say \so now. What I did say, and what I. do say now, is that the unmarried men should come forward and offer their services. ' At. the same time there are some married men who think it their duty to go, and I don't think we should refuse to allow them to go if their ,-wives give them consent. We do hot jisk their wives for their consent, but if a wifo communicates with us, and .refuses her consent, we tell the man he : 'had better not go. I Anxious Time Over. "Recruiting is now satisfactory," Mr. Allen continued. "I was anxious about it at the middle of, this month, because we had a very big order in hand, and it did seem as if recruiting were a little slow. I gave some intimation of. that to the Press, and the rate has accelerated since then, until now there is no doubt about immediate requirements being met. After this, •we settle down to our regular steady demand. After we have the Seventh Reinforcements in camp wo shall want overv two months 2600 men. In tho last two montiiß we have had to find donblo that number. Defence of the System. "I should liko tho Press and the people to help us in regard to our registration system. A demand has heen raised that we should take men into camp as soon as they enlist. Under our registration scheme as we adopted it, we made it perfectly plain that we wanted men to remain in their employment until wo called them up. They first send in their registration card. Wo acknowledge that card, and in our acknowledgment we say: 'Don't give up your civil employment until you are called up.' Some men do not. take notice of this instruction, and some who have registered have come to town, and have said they are unemployed. Wo don't want to becomc an agency for miemployed. We do want to encourage men to remain in their employment un.tiL.we Bub fwfo- .want

ever.v man who feels that ho ought to go, to register his name, so that we may lmvo a list on which we can draw at any time to moot our requirements. Having registered, the greatest service men caii render to tho community and to us is to koep steadily 011 at their employment. It is not in the interest of the efficient training of the force that we should alter our present system of receiving men into 'camp only at stated periods." About Conscription. Have you considered the question of conscription ? the Minister was asked. "No," ho replied. "I don't think there is any ncod for conscription in Now Zealand at present. Of course, if we could prove that unmarried men were shirking their responsibilities I am not at all certain that it would not be justifiable for Parliament to deal with an issue of that kind. I can't say that they are shirking their duty, hut if proof positive came to 11s that they were then it would be for the people as represented by Parliament to express an opinion on the question." ' Reserve Judgment. Mr. Allen went on to say that lie would ask the public to refrain from passing judgment on men who have not gone. Especially did 'he ask tliis for tho staff officers 'and instructors who were giving just as good scrvico to the country and to the Empire by remaining hero as they could possibly give by going. He hoped that the Government would be able to recognise later their claims to promotion equally with the claims of those who had goije to the front. With regard to individual young men among civilians he would likewise ask the public to refrain from passim.; unkind judgment. The Governmeift had been considering the advisability of giving men rejected a badge, but had to the conclusion that that idea was impracticable. What was now intended was that every man rejected for valid reasons would be given a certificate which he could keep for his own satisfaction, or to show to his friends if occasion arose. Colossal Tasks. The Minister also expressed his profound admiration for the manner in which the instruction of the men at the camp had been carried out by Colonel Potter and his staff of instructors there. # Ho also wished to express his appreciation of the manner in which the Defence Office had coped with tho colossal amount of work to bo done by the staff there, tasks of the magnitude of which the public had no idea. "They are dealing with millions of money," he said, "and we have had nothing at all like a scandal, and I hope we may never have one. Our last estimate of expenditure was £300,000 a month, but that will have to be increased. Since that estimate was made we have these two extra battalions, a hospital ship, and two stationary hospitals."