THE RECRUITING CALL

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2643, 14 December 1915, Page 6

THE RECRUITING CALL

—♦ RESPONSE OF THE DISTRICTS CANTERBURY'S DEFICIT STATEMENT.BY DEFENCE MINISTER. The Defence Minister Las been studying the war census returns and the recruiting returns for the Dominion up till October 31 Inst, with the object of discovering how the quotas should have been assessed, and how much above or below these quotas the district efforts in supplying men have actually been. Mr. Allen's calculations go to show that' every district except Canterbury has supplied more than its quota, and that "\t ellingtou lias made up most of Canterbury's deficit. "11l my opinion the hipt quotas, v.hicli were supposed to be based oil the number 'of men of military ago available in every district, were wrongly assessed," said Mr. Allen yesterday. "I have been through the National P.egister figures, and I am of opinion that we have asked too much of Canterbury Midi Otago. The 'most extraordinary thing' shown by the Register is that Otago has done its share. Otago's quota should have been from 16 to 16.3 per cent., and up till October 31 Otago had supplied 16.6 of the men recruited. "According to my calculations the quotas for the four districts should be: Auckland -. 4 .. 26.8 per cent. Wellington ' 33.4 per cent. Canterbury 23.5 per cent. Otago 16.3 per cent. The', districts had actually supplied' men for the Main Body and Reinforcements up till October 31, as follows Auckland . 27.6 per cent. Wellington 35 per cent. Canterbury > 20.8 per cent. Otago 16.6 per cent. "The War Census also makes it perfectly evident there has been considerable migration of men of military age from the South Island to the North. This is disclosed by these facts. The estimated population of the four I districts on' October 31, 1915, was a 6 follows:— Auckland 283,935 Wellington 335,623 Canterbury 301,773 Otago 198,062 Total 1,119,393 The district of population, are therefore: ' . Auckland , 25.4 per cent. Wellington 30 percent. Canterbury 26.9 per cent. ' Otago 17.7 per cent. The National Register showed that there wore in the four districts these numbers of men between the ages of 19 and 44 years :— ~ Auckland 56,<298 "Wellington 70,468 Canterbury 48,365 Otago • 33,382 Total 208,513 The percentages of men of military age in the districts, according to these figures, are: Auckland 27. , per cent. Wellington 33.8 per cent. Canterbury 23.2 per cent Otago 16 percent. ; . "These figures show that the percentages of men between 19 and 44 years of age in the two North Island'districts are higher than tho ]>opulation percentages, whereas in the South Island exactly the reverse is the case. I think the' only possible conclusion is that men of military age have been moving from the South to the North, probably for some years past." \ *