NEW QUOTA BASIS

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2627, 24 November 1915, Page 6

NEW QUOTA BASIS

FOR NEXT DRAFT

POPULATION TO BE THE GUIDE THIS CITY'S SHARE WELLINGTON MILITARY DISTRICT'S QUOTAS. The CliicJ of_ tho General Staff announced yesterday that drafts of New Zealand men called up in t"ho immediate future for active servfce'are to be raised from the four military, districts on a new basis. The first system employed after the outbreak of war was to request equal quotas of every district. Thus a force of 2000 men would be called for as follows:—"

Auckland Military District ... 600 Wellington Military District 500 Canterbury Military • District 500 Otago Military District ...... 500

, ' , . 2000 ' An article published in The Dominion on June 3 showed that Otago (though asked for a quarter of the drafts) did not hold nearly a quarter of the population, and a few days afterwards it was officiary stated that the quotas would from then on be drawn in proportion to the number of registrations in the districts. The system of proportional quotas was pursued up till.the present, and now we are to have population quotas.

.the Government Statistician's Department has got out estimates of the total number of men of military age (20 years to 4-5 years) in every district, and on these figures the quotas will now be based.. This basis will ofctain until the contents of the National Register are known, and then it may be considered necessary to mate a further change. Hie Statistics Department's estimate of the percentage of men of military ago in the various districts are:—

Auckland Military District 25 Wellington Military District 32.4 Canterbury Military District .... 24.8 Otago Military District 17.8 .Those percentages now represent the district quotas. ■ 'A lO /i? urcs on. which the Government statistician has based these percentages are: — All men of military Auckland. Military District .... Wellington Military District ... 80,500 Canterbury Military District ... 61,750 Otago Military District 44,000

Total 248,250 The first; force to which the new system will be applied will be the Eleventh Reinforcements, who go into camp in the middle of December. Tlie draft will bo 2400 strong, so the district shares will be:— Auckland goo Wellington 778 Canterbury 595 Otago 427 _. 2400 The two main branches of the draft will be the infantry and the mounted The infantry will number 1660, and the mounted 388, so the districts will supply infantry and mounted men in (roughly) the following numbers:— : Infantry. Mounted. Auckland 415 97 Wellington 537 126 Canterbury 412 96 Otago 296 69 _ 1660 388 llie new system will entail a lesser effort on the part of Wellington district than has been required of it in the past, and other districts will require to do much imore than they have been in the habit of doing; Under the proportional quota system Wellington always provided over 40 per dent, of the drafts. The Wellington Military District's . share for the Eleventh Reinforcements is as follows:— Infantry 537 | Mounted 126 Artillery .....; 53 Engineers 31 Signal Service 8 'A.S.C 7 Ambulance 16 Total 778 The internal quotais for the Wellington Military District are being allotted 011 a population basis, The district consists of five groups:— 5 Wellington City and Suburbs. 6 Manawatu. . 7 Hawke's Bay. 7a Wairarapa. 8 Taranaki. The basis which is being used for the ascertaining of the group quotas is the total population (all ages and sexes) of the groups, and the populations aro reckoned to be:— Group 5 90,330 Group 6 73,550 Group 7 50,120 Group 7a 52,450 Group 8 68,550 Total 335,000 The "Wellington District's group quotas for infantry and mounted will DeiInfantry. Mounted. Group 5 144 34 Group 6 120 28 Group 7 80 20 Group 7a 83 20 Group 8 110 24 Totals C 37 126 Wellington City and Suburbs will bo asked for about 200 men. For infantry and mounted the City group's quotas are:— Infantry 144 Mounted 34 Both brandies 178 Of the total number of men at present registered in New Zealand, the military districts hold the following percentages:— 1 Auckland i 29.10 Wellington 42.25 Canterbury . 16.98 Otago 11.67 The district percentages of the totals ' registered for the various arms aro:— Mounted Rifles. 'Auckland 19.11 .Wellington 51.38 Canterbury 17.19 Otago ....'. 12.32 Infantry. 'Auckland 81.22 ■Wellington 46.55 Canterbury. - 13.81 Otago 8.42 'Artillery. Auckland 24.43 Wellington 37.70 Canterbury 22.34 Otago 15.53 Engineers. 'Auckland * 33.52 Wellington 41.76 Canterbury 18.13 Otago 6.59 Signal Service. 'Auckland 41.67 Wellington 39.58 Canterbury 14.58 Otago 4.17 Army Service Corps. "Auckland 35.29 Wellington 38.35 Canterbury 14.16 ■jivjii!'.'"''!,l2.2o

Ambulance. Auckland 38.83 Wellington 34.08 Canterbury 16.76 Otago 10.33 Veterinary Corps. Auckland 24.00 Wellington 24.00 Canterbury 24.00 Otago 28.00 Hospital Ship. Auckland 44.44 Wellington 14.82 Canterbury 13.58 Otago 27.16 Tunnelling Company. XucEland' 65.00 Wellington 25.00 Canterbury 10.00 Otago 10.00 Maoris. Auckland' 66.67 Wellington 43.33 Canterbury — Otago —