THE NEED OF MEN

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2764, 6 May 1916, Page 8

THE NEED OF MEN

| ' NEW SCHEME 10 BE WORKED IN WELLINGTON

CARDS AND CANVASS

general,, meeting of the members .'.of-.the Town Hall Recruiting Committee and.-the War League Gommitteo was ■ held' m the City. Council Chamber last ..livening to further Consider methods 'of enoouraging and 1 promoting recruiting in and about- the City. Members _of the-men's and wornon's- branches of the National Reserve and other citizens were present, rhe Mayor (Mr. J. P. ■Luke) prosided. . ; The Mayor said that , he was not one • of those; who considered .that .Wellingtoil had not done its phare. The City liadibtefl;.frequently' drawn on in tho past to make. up. tho shortages of other' '.;digtrjcts:" : i|lo': challenged tho Minister . lof-. Defencd '&>: produce the .figures, and Vivas -sure that it would be shown by them that Wellington 'had- done more than its share. The Town Hall Recruiting Committee, ably ,led by -Cap■t'ain Barclay' (a public-spirited citizen 'of-'74 years) had , recruited . just about 3000 .The..Major; then moved:—' •'That the,-secretary ,of, 'the, Wellington - - -Recruiting Committee send to each ''man on the local roll-,of,,the; City ■ ■ of Wellington of tho New Zealand ■' Register a recruiting roport card * ■ ' ana a circular in the form annex-

"That the cards returned be. first ;ar- ... ranged,' according to the., districts .into, which the Gity has been sub-: .. divided, and then alphabetically, in such districts.. 'That after the expiration of seven day 3 from the issue of the oiroular tho committee of each district take over tho returned, cards-.of its district to unable it to make a personal canvass of those who have not returned their cards, and those who > have returned thoir cards/ but who, in the opinion of the committee ( should be personally interviewed, and of those who are not upon the . register. 1 : "That pending tho return and arrange- . • ment >of the ~ cards, each district y" committee devote its attention ;to y-'. endeavouring to discover what moil in the district are not upon thoiNational to make a. record of- their names and porsonally !interviow them. f ■- "Tljat the Women's. National Reserve , be ;asked to assist in the'.work,'of, dispatching the cards and circulars and arranging the cards when returned."

Gail of ' Country; "fornt; aniiex'ed n reads: "Dear .Sir,—ln order to carrj out 'the.Government scheme of recruiting and completing. the'. National Register, V the Wellington Recruiting Committee has ' <ietewniiied 'to send to all men in the . City of Wellington, on the : . National Register a recruiting report card. 0 I, therefore,-, enclose.: sucli card, and shall .be rtucli ' obliged 'if you , will complete' ;it; in . accordance with the: instructions '.and .return it to m«. It is hardly necessary' for liie at this.' crisis in .; the history; of: ;the Empireto, remind you of the urgent need x of:, recruits for our Expeditionary Forces, or to ask' you'to give due consideration to the call of your: King and .country before completing your card." - • Mr. Luke hoped -that within fourteen Jays. after tins- scheme was set'in motion,.Wellington fulfilled its obligations, and would stand second to no place 111 the Dominion. ; The rnotion_ was seconded by tho H6n. ~T. G. W, i Aitken, who said that Wellington shimld make a determiqed effort to rectify.-.the.present position.' Mr. A. Veitch said that tho scheme was not what the Minister of. Defence had asked for. It was not a house-to-house personal canvass. The Mayor pointed out that there was an, .element of personal canvass in tho scheme he moved. , - .Mr. , H. P. Barber agreed to a great extent with Mr. Yeiicli.

"Should bo Shamed to Duty." ; , Mr. John Crewes said tho schema suggested,.by the Mayor was already in operational .. Ho had canvassed two streets there, and had found .the people opposed to being bothered . with-any. more' cards to fill inr .Tho young fellows'of Wellington should bo shamed into : doing - thou- duty. "If they won't-go, there .are a few good old : LVfh.wqmen : up in Street who will' take the matter up for them " (Aijplauso.) • • - Mr. H.'F. Von Haast uaiicl that tho - scheme-would-dispiinso with some can- ■. ..vassing—perhaps a- great, deal—bccause there would .bo no 7ie6d;to look up a number of those who returned their ~ cards. Ho trusted - that tho - scheino ■ • would be adopted. .;. • Tho Mayor: said that out --of-' sixteenmeetings hold in and about tlio City . only, two meetings'bad decided to ira- ~ dertake 'a ; personal 'canvass. - v -i* proposed to . ask tho Wo* ifieserve;''to-.undertake' a. share of the work which the scliome would entail,.the Mayor asked the presi- ■ dent. of .tho "Women's, Heservo (Dr; Watts-Mills) to speak. " Dr. Platts-Miljs said tho Women's Eeserve had at first not liked .the idea, of women undertaking personal cunvasi]ing, but had decided that if it would help; the. .cause t'iiev should do even v/liat might hjs unpleasant. However, sho could assure women - that if they went about- tlie work tactfully, gently, ■ cut of a, love of country, and iii a spirit of fellowship chey would not bo insulted, but would recoivo a courteous hear. . tog.. . * Messrs. W. J. Thompson and G. Frost supported the scheme, and Messrs. Barber- a lid Veiteh s.'iid that they would not oppose it, and; if it wag carried, they would do their best to make it a SLNH;O3S> % 'Mrs. J. P. Luke, said that tho pooplo already seen could'be struck off tho list of those to be circularised. • The Mayor said that tho best sug. pestion, of.the iot.was that of the Hon. . G. W. Russell, who said that thero wore 110,000 men who had stated iliat tlioy ; w-ero. willing to go, and that if permission was. granted to:.i:sk ; ,'those men to keep their proiiiisa. All tlio men needed Should bo secured .in one act.

A Word to tha Well-to-do. Captain Barclay said that tho schema would amount to a personal canvass. This war had to be won, and they had to bear in mind that if every man ncefled was not obtained the war would bo lost'.' The Government- had assumed that Wellington had turned a cold shoulder to its.-scheme, but that was a wrong view. A great . deal of useful and necessary spade work . had been going on. Mr. A. H. Hindmarsh said there w,ere a lot of well-to-flo people in Wellington who' should ho told to go to the front. It was all very well to toll* young men to go, but if the well-to-do 'were induced to make the sacrifice itwould remove it lot of had feeliijg and tremendously affect recruiting.* Hie death of ia well-to-do man would not seriously affect ihis family. His children could st'll receive a good cduca-. Son, etc. Ho challenged tho meeting X- moral' pressure on these men io set a lead. . The motion was carried with few disfieniients. It was thon decided to set up sectional committees, and those present

[ pledgod themselves to assist, in tie work. lilr. T. W. Ward said the Govern- [ ment should bring in a general scheme; of compulsion and ittop this humbug- , ging. ■ (Applause.) If the Government [ lia'd not the strength of its convictions, turn them out and put in another. (Applause.) He wished to move in favour of urging the Government to mtroduco compulsion. r _ ■ _ The Mayor said the motion would be Lout, of order, but ho asked the meeting jjf they would accept it. The meeting refused. ' I The women of the National Reserve afterwards met io discuss as to what they, should do'in connection with'the '.sending out of-the forms, and it was agreed .that thev should assemble on rMonday at 10 a.rii,, 2 p.m., and 7 p.m ; , and on following days, to make the necessary arr^nsemoiits.