WHAT SCHEME?

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2760, 2 May 1916, Page 6

WHAT SCHEME?

RECRUITING METHODS DISCUSSED

NEW PROPOSALS OUTLINED

HON. J. ALLEN ON PRESENT

POSITION

A joint meeting of the Mayor's Recruiting Committee and the War Leagne was held in the Mayor's room at the Town Hall yesterday, to discuss the recruiting position in the city. The Mayor (Mr. J. P. Luke) presided, and those present wore: The Hon. Ja6. Allen, the 'Hon. G. W. Russell, Dr. Newman, M.P., Capt. Barclay, Messrs. R. A. 'Wright, M.P., Barbsr, Thompson, Yeitcli, Atkinson, Jolly, C. R. Smith, Wylie, Ward, Leigh Hunt, E. C. Jack, and 0. C. Crump (Mayor of Onslow). Mr. Luke welcomed the Ministers, and asked the meeting to hear, the depu* tation from Hataitai before tlie business was proceeded with.

Mr. Leigh Hunt said that the deputation was the outcome of a recruiting meeting at H.ataitai of about nine who could not see their way to carry out the scheme as outlined by the Recruiting Board. At Hataitai they wore practically all young married couples, and tliey had found it impossible to get men over the military age to do the recruiting. They therefore desired to submit and ask the committee to support an alternative scheme. Mr. Jack had gone very thoroughly into the matter, and it wa6 thought, that they could work very heartily on the lines he would suggest.

New Scheme Outlined. Mr. Jack said that the Hataitai people regarded the scheme of the Recruiting Board as impracticable. It was felt that it was causing ■ a disinclination on the part ,of the people to take up recruiting vbrk. If the Government had adopted a house-to-house scheme in the first place, it would no doubt have been a complete success. Instead of that they had decided to take the National Register. ' A great many people thought that the • Government was wrong to call upon those to come forward who had signified their willingness to enlist, but the Government had declared that they would not call upon them in that way. It was the duty of the Government to go to .those men through their officials, and ask them to fulfil their promises. ' There would bo no breach of confidence in doing that. The house-to-house canvass would detect those who had not signed the registration cards and that made it very distasteful. Had the census been taken, on April 1 of this year, as it should have beeiij it would have afforded a very simple check on the National Register, 'iiio registration . cards had shown that 33,000 single men without dependents had promised'to come .forward, if required, SOOO volunteeicd for civil duties, 8390 refused to serve in eithor civil or military duties, and over 8000 singlo men with dependents would 6ervo if reHe maintained that tlioso figures showed that the voluntary system,' if properly carried out, was not exhausted. He suggested that the Government should withdraw the present recruiting scheme and substitute a scheme under which a sufficient number of returned soldiers, or men over military age, would be employed by the Government, . sworn to . secrecy, and asked to visit.the..single -men without dependents (who' were the first eligible to go), and ask each of them to sign an enlistment card stating whether he 'was prepared' to be;called up at a fortnight's notice, and if not, at what date Jio would bo ready to fulfil his promise to go into camp. 'A census should be taken ;to. check' the National Register, and if a man signed his card for a date more than ' six months ; ahead hi s card should bo placed alongside those of the men who had refused to serve in either' a civil or military capacity. Compulsion should be applied to those who' had refused to siga t-ne register, or refused to, serve in either civil or military capacity or had signed: for more than six montiis ahead. After these men had been compelled to serve the Government could open tho voluntary door again and allow tho married men and single men. with dependents to volunteer, and after that class was exhausted they could go in for 1 general conscription. 'J lie peopio, of Hataitai were anxious to do their, bit, but they were busy men and they wanted to spend their time profitably, and not have their efforts wasted. There were plenty of returned soldiers and men over a"e to do the work as he had suggested. Mr. Wylie (Wadestown) supported Mr. Jack's scheme, and Mr. Ward (Roseneath) also supported the scheme.

City's Recruiting Efforts. Captain Barclay,: rocruiting officer at the Town Hall, maintained that tlie City was keeping up its average of recruits monthly. Tho number of men who had enlisted for the Fifteenth Reinforcements at the :'i'own Hall was 203. About 33 per cent, were unfit, and this was considered a heavy percentage. The net result, however, was that out of 172 men required, tlie Town Hall recruiting office had supplied 136 fit mon. Out of-136 men who had registered for tho 16ths, 45 were unlit, therefore 67 per cent, of the men were supplied for- that draft. For the 18th Reinforcements. 857 men had already registered at the Town Hall. Captain Barclay went on to explain what ha<l been done in' connection with revising tlie rolls. Out of 1000 names it wis iound that 600 were married, 250 were not found, 100 were conscientious objectors, and the ages of 50 could not be told.. ■ MINISTER OF DEFENCE REPLIES.

llie Hon. James Allen strongly defended the Government's recruiting scheme. Ho maintained that a great number of the difficulties would disappear if they were faced. So far as the Government ivere concerned, tile suggestion was put forward on the recommendation of the Military Board. He admitted that the rolls were by no means perfect when the Government took up the I'ecruiting scheme. All they ha 3 to work upon were the names of men of military ago which wero in the national register. Mr. Allen, in pointing out the benefit of the Government's scheme, again instanced what Oneliunga had done. Ho said that there wero no real difficulties in the personal canvass if people were willing to take it on and face it. Dunedin had adopted ft with good results. Christclmrcb' had commenced the personal canvass, and it was going well there. A week or so ago Otago had more than its quota of men for_ the' 19tlis, and these men had been obtained under the' Government's recruiting scheme. Evidently Wellington aid not approve of the scheme. Mr. Jack had put forward another one, and he would place it before tho Recruitina; Board'. There was 110 objection to the returned soldier doing his share of canvassing Ho could do the work much hotter than the man of military age. Personally Mr. Allen thought that tho returned soldier should not be used unless it was impossible to get other people. The i returned man had done his hit and it was up to the citizens to tal«i their share in the work. The Hon. G. W. Russell recognised the splendid work that had been done by recruiting bonrds. Speaking oh the question of the census not being taken this year ho said that he was trying to save money this year. It cost from £60,000 to £100,000 to take a census, but it would hp down during February I of nest year. Titers were 110,000 raea'e

names on the National Register available for military service to-day and ho was prepared to liand these names over to tho Minister of Defence. If f?io Defence Department chose to address a personal letter to each of those men who had offered his services ho was sure tho result would be good. Tho National Register would be closed on May 9, and every man would be prosecuted who failed to register "by that time. At the present time there wore four Justices of tho Peace signing the orders for the prosecution of people who had refused to register. Mr. Itussell niado the suggestion that the women of the National Reserve should bo asked to givo their services in connection with recruiting. If 400 or 500 women could be obtained they would bring back information which men and recruiting boards could not get. If the recruiting board would accept delegates from tho Women's National Reserve then all the difficulties would disappear. Mr. W. H. P. Barber said that the result of the personal canvass in Newtown had proved satisfactory. If every committee took up the work in earnest, there would/be no difficulty. On the motion of Mr. Luke, tho meeting adjourned till Friday evening next. Meantime tho Women's National Reserve will be communicated with, and asked to attend at the' Town Hall on that evening.

WORK IN OTHER CENTRES,

PROGRESS REPORTS. In answer to inquiries made as to how the recruiting campaigns were being conducted in other centres, the following replies were laid before the meeting:— Prom the Mayor of Auckland:— "The City Recruiting Committee is constituted with the whole of the members of the council. The committee exorcises full power regarding recruiting and issuing of its own badges, and also controls the city station in the main street, which has been erected by the committee. This is the principal, in fact the only, station in Auckland. The local Defence officers have cooperated splendidly with -us, and their entire recruiting record work is carried on at the city station, there being no overlapping, everything dove-tailing excellently. Therefore a 'recruit presenting himself is_ dealt with in all stages, including medical examination right on the spot. In the matter of roll, we consider tho Government scheme absolutely valueless. ' We are not adopting the personal, canvass, and the only word of the roll that we can complete is classification in accordance with the replies received to our circulars, but as this represents only about one-third obviously suoh a roll will be of little value. Anything that the committee could do, in our opinion, would not further help the matter, as this is entirely a question for tho Government, who, in the opinion of tho City Committee, are weakly leaning on local bodies, expecting them to do work, which, if their administration was strong and adaptable, would prove quite unnecessary. In other words, tho Government seeks to impose through local bodies a mild form of compulsion. If the voluntary system fails, and it has not yet failed- in Auckland, then the Government must become responsible for instituting other methods." From tho Mayor of Christchurch:— . "The Recruiting Committee does not interfere with the issue of badges or medical examination. The staff of the Defence Department attends to tin's solely. The committee divided the citv sections into sections with about 500 names in each, and almost every person is reported on. Tho rolls are amended from information received from canvassers' report cards.. Expect final canvass Monday. All information is given to Defence Department, which is working in harmony and assisting us to the utmost."

From the secretary of the Citizens' Defence Corps, Christchurch:— "The Citizens' Defence Corps took over the control of recruiting in Christchurch from the City Council some weeks ago. We arc making a house-to-house canvass, and arc in that way revising and corroding the roll. Should any one.be willing to enlist wo get him to sign a registration card, which we then forward to the group officer to deal with. -We do not issue badges. By revised roll we presume that yon mean one that had had the names' of those already enlisted marked off bv the Defence authorities. This wo'have not found it necessary to wait for, thougli it is being done in conjunction with the canvass."