THE WAR LEAGUE

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2606, 30 October 1915, Page 6

THE WAR LEAGUE

TO FOSTER RECRUITING WOOD WORK ALREADY DONE HELP FROM WOMEN A LITTLE MISUNDERSTANDING WAR PENSIONS

A general meeting of members of the f iWar League was held in a committee room of'the Town Hall last night for • the purpose of electing an exeoutive. Tho Mayor (Mr. J. P. Luke) presided. The Mayor said that tlie work of the iWar League hadl made good progress in soveral directions, and the league had done good service, especially in. re--cruiting. The people of New Zealand liad made big sacrifices and were prepared to do more. Ho did not t'liink it. .was necessary to worry very much about some young men who were holding back. Most people knew who they were. No doubt they hadl their, own reasons, but he did not think those reasons would satisfy, their consciences v later. The nation certainly had a right. to ask the single men to go forward be- .' fore tho married men wore called -upon, and the least satisfactory fact about :• .the present position was tho tendency 'of so mo young men. to let' tho married men do the work. The '"War League : was now trying to improve matterß. Now Zealand had fulfilled her obligations in the matter of .reinforcements lip'till now, but there was'going to be a very urgent' demand for recruits in ■future. He was glad to be .able to say x that the opening of a recruiting office in the Town Hall had produced very good" results. , The "greatest asset to a: community was to have its interests: -centralised, and tho civis life, being the centre of the-city interest, was likely to produce the best results in recruiting ■ as in ot'her things. Recruiting was at white heat now, and it was not goiiig to be allowed to cool. Likewise tho 'generosity of the' people of Wellington . had been remarkable. Bub the diversity • ' of these patriotic efforts had drawn interest away from the Mayor's Patriotic Fund, and this money was required for .very urgent purposes. ■Ho had had . some difficulty in regard to finance, but '.. : a little while , ago. ho canvassed among certain gentlemen, asking them toguar- . ante© him a'pound a month. In. about an hour he approached about 40 men, and had not had one refusal. (Ap- : plause.) He hoped the league would be successful in carrying out its good / work. He thanked tho citizens .of Wellington for .their generous support at ' all times.

Why the League was Formed. : Mr. H.-F. Von Haast related the I'casous which had led to the formation of tho War League. A .number of men (of whom he was one) had held tho opinion that a great many people in New Zealand had not fully realised ' that' a war . was on, and Iliad the opinion also that New Zealand should:' send as many men as possible to the war, irrespective of what other, parts of, the Empire were doing. A deputation was iformett to approach, tho Defence Minister, but Mr. Allen could not 6ee them, and the members of tho deputation formed the War League. They . interviewed the' Defence heads, and were "then informed .that the best object on which they could focus tlio efforts of the community was the raising of more men. Tho recruiting committee of the league would have put through in three weeks 700 men. (Applause.). In assisting - iii the work of recruiting they were doing a very useful duty. He bjlicved that they could do a great deal more work. They would have to advertise the need for men widely for. one thing. In this he thought they might get the assistance of the Government. His remiarks about tho enthusiasm of Captain Simson in inaugurating route marchos were received with hearty applause. One proposal of the War League was to arrange for tho .payment of insurance premiums for men going to the, front.. He had been approached by several gentlemen anxious io 1 associate themselves with' this scheme. He believed that the Government could,', by allowing civilians to do some work now done by soldiers, free a number of trained soldiers for active service. The. Physical Standard. Captain W. do R. Barclay spoko of tho actual recruiting work. Up to date the committee had registered 682 men, of whom 316 had passed as fit, unfit 128, not yet disposed of finally 228. It might strike anyone that the percentage ®f unfits was far too large, and there must bo some solution of this problem,' which he thought he could give. The medical men wore working under very strict regulations in examining'men. These regulations were admirably suited for recruiting in peace time, because in piece time you could afford to pick your men. In war time you must get your men. One of tho first things necessary iwas to reduce the standard somewhat. ? !A man who had a slight defect might ■ bo thrown out in peace times, but he .•should bo accepted in war time. Tlio regulations should bo elastic enough to (it the fact which was not elastic, for the fact'to approach wai that we needed mien. The man to approach was Sur-geon-Geheral Henderson, who know how things were being dono in England now. He believed that tho regulations, although nominally in forco in England, were almost in abeyance, and men rejected here would be snapped up and sent into camp in England at oncc. Ho thought 682 men up till now was not a bad record. (Applause.) But ho did not think wo had reached the particular stratum of the population that wo should try to reach. Thero were hundreds of young ben. who should comc forward, who should be.approached, and tlio question was how to approach them. He thought thobest method was to havo a. recruiting sergeant of intelligence and . character to talk with theso men in places where they congregate. The leaguo wanted the co-operation of all sports bodies to give free admission to the recruiting sergeant to all sports gatherings. -

A Warning. Captain Simson and Mr. A. Jolly also made brief speeches. Captain Simson 6aid that the object of tho meeting and of the league should be to organise, not only for military scrvice, but for all service. Ho would sound a warning note to the league to go slow in the matter of reducing the medical standard too low. He dia not think the mcdical authorities were overdoing it. There were men rejected for minor defects which should be put right. These defects should be put right, if not by the Defence then by the Patriotic Societies. Certainly the soldiers should not Iwvo to pay for it. (Hear, hear.) The medical authorities were doing a very solemn duty, and 'doing it well. If men who were unfit wcro sent to' Gallipoli they would break ■up under the strain, and they would embarrass tho hospital organisation and take the time of skilled aid which should bo reserved for wounded men. He appealed a"ain to the league to organise, and organise, and continue to organise. Mr. C. R- Smith agreed with oveiythinff Captain Simson .had said, but he did think that 37 per cent, was a big proportion of rejects. One man of Jus acquaintance, trained in the Imperial Amiy, had been titnceiaieiotedjcii

bad teeth. Finally the War League found 'him and helped liiin with his teetli and now ho was accepted., road.v to go into camp shortly. For weeks this man had been detained because nobody liufc tho Defence authorities knew anything abont him. He supported Mr. von Haast's excellent scheme, by which men unfit to go should assist men who do go by paying their insurance premiums up to £20. He would join in that scheme, and ho would ask others willing to do so to make known their intention. Election of Officers. The meeting then proceeded to the election of officers, as follow: —President, the Mayor (Mr. J. P. Luke); vice-presi-dents; Mr. James Macintosh and Mr. A. H. Hindmarsh, M.P.; secretary, Mr. S. A. Atkinson; treasurer, Mr. C. R. Smith; committee, Mr. H. F. von-Haast (chairman), Sir John Findlay, Captain. Donald Sinisou, Captain W. de R. Barclay, Messrs. J. J. M'Grath, A. Atkinson, A. N. Marryatt, A. Jolly, C. Cr. Wilson, L. A. Edwards, D. M'Laren, and A. Maddisoh. ' Mr. Smith said that the executive proposed if possible to link up all the members in the <reueral effort, giving as many of\them as could bo useful-work on sub-committees. What present members should do was to enrol their friends. Women As Members? There was some little discussion arising out of an apparent misapprehension oil tho question of whether or not women should bo .excluded from the league. It' was. very obviously the sense of the meeting that women ought | not to be excluded. It appeared, however, that some members of the executive were of opinion that _ certain other members of tho executive had carried! a proposal at ail executive meeting that/ a motion to exclude women should be proposed at the general meeting. Professor Hunter and others urged that the chairman (Mr. Von Haast) should now move this resolution passed by the executive, which resolution could be affirmed or rejected by the general meeting. Mr. Von Haast in turn, insisted that the motion had not had the intention imputed. . : Mr. S. A. Atkinson finally moved to the effect that the'constitution of tho -War' League be amended to provide that membership in it be confined wholly to men. .This lie moved in view of the fact- that women were ■ well organised in the Women's National Reserve. Mr. J. H. Hopkirk moved an amendment that' tho matter be left to the executive, to consult with the women's branch of tho National Reserve concerning it. It was urged on the one hand that the women could work best by staying with their own society, the National Reserve, which was properly organised. On the other hand'it was urged that women might aid in recruiting at least as effectively .as men. The War League, it was urged, .would be very foolish to reject tho assistance of women, who.' because of their wholehearted sympathy with the aims of tho league, : had joined it, having already joined the National Reserve.

Mr. Atkinson's resolution was negatived unanimously, Mr, Hopkirk having withdrawn his amendment. Mr. R. Darroch moved that it bo a recommendation to the executive to sot up a special women's recruiting committee. _ This, resolution was carried. War Pensions Act. ' Professor Hunter moved that tho executive be authorised to approach tho Government with the object of having the War Pensions Act . amended in certain particulars. Onei thing ho thought was especially urgent was that the pensions payable to the dependents of men killed at the front should be niacloi.definite. At...present .a. married mail who contemplated going to the front could calculate how much money ho could leave his wife and children out of his pay, but ho did not know what they would receive in pension if he were killed. While this was so it was absolutely unfair to ask married men to go to the war. Another unImperialistic provision in tho War Pensions Act made it impossible for the dependents of New Zealand soldiers to receive pensions ,if those dependents happened to be resident, now or in tho future, outside oi New Zealand. He thought tho W<n League should urge that this provision be deleted from tHo Bill as soon as possible. Tho resolution was)carried.