MILITARY SERVICE ACT

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2842, 5 August 1916, Page 3

MILITARY SERVICE ACT

/ & NEW RECRUITING DISTRICTS THE BOUNDARIES FIXED ! PREPARING FOR COMPULSION . I' ' , The Military Service Act empowers tho Minister of Defence to divide New Zealand into recruiting districts, and it directs tho Government Statistician, so [ soon as these districts have been constituted, to prepare district registers of the First and Second Divisions of the Reserve and to enter on each district renter the'names of the men of military age Lelonging to the respective divisions who are resident in that district at (be date of its constitution, or at jiny later date at which they become members of the Reserve. This is tho first stage in making ready for compulsory service. Pursuant to this authority, the Dominion has now. been divided into recruiting districts, and the work of preparing registers of the men in the First Division of the Reserve for each of these districts will be at once commenced. It has been further decided that these new districts will henceforth be the Group districts for all territorial training and Departmental purjjoses under the Defence Act. This decision. means, of course, an increase of three in the present number of Groups, with a corresponding increase in tho number of Group Commanders and staffs. In constituting the new districts, it was not deemed desirable to adhere to tho present Group boundaries, as these are more or less arbitrary, and in several instances are not easily ascertainable, and it is necessary that every man who -is of military ago and therefore liable for service should know clearly and definitely the recruiting district to which he belongs and for which he may be balloted. It is also essential to have a well-defined boundary to each district, to enable the Government Statistician to place with certainty and exactitude each Reservist in the district register to which he belongs. For this reason, county boundaries.have been in every instance selected as. the boundaries of the new Group recruiting districts, in' the constitution of which care has been taken-to preserve as far as practicable community of .interest. Each Gronp recruiting .district .under tho Act, therefore, will comprise so many counties, Rnd, of course, all boroughs, town and road districts sitnato. within those counties. The Post, and Telegraph Guide shows the county in which each post office in the Dominion is situate, and thus provides every man of military age with an easy and ready means of ascertaining the county, and consequently the recruiting district, in which he resides. For the purposes of the Military eSrvico Act, twenty-one Group recruiting districts have been constituted, ns follow No. 1, Auckland—Comprising Eden, Waitemata. Great Barrier, Manakau, and Franklin Comities, with headquarter': at Auckland.

No. 2, Hauraki—Comprising. .Coromandel, Thames, Ohinemnri. Pialto, and Maf-ama'ta Counties, with headquarters at Paeroa. " '

No. 17, Bar of Plenty—Comprising Opotiki, Whakatane, Tauranga, Rotorua, and Bast Tnuno Counties, with headquarters at Rotorua. No. 3, North Auckland—Comprising jUangonui, Whangaroa, Hokianga. Bay ft" Islands. Whangarei, Hobson, Otamatea, and Rodney bounties, with-head-quarters at Whangarci. No. 4, Waikato—Comprising Waikatq, Raglan, Kawliia, Awakino, Waipa, Waitomo, and West Taupo Counties, with headquarters at Hamilton.. No. 5, Wellington—Comprising Hutt and Makara Counties, with headquarters at Wellington. ! No, 6, Manawatu—Comprising Horowhenua, Manawatu, ICairanga, Oroun, Rangitikei, Kiwitea, and Poliangina Counties, with headquarters tit Palinerston. ■

No. 7, Hawke's Bay—Comprising Hawko's Bay, Waipawa, -Waipukurau, and Patanga'ta Counties, with headquarters at Napier. No. 18, Wairarapa—Comprising Featherston, Wairarapa South, Masterton, Castlepoint, Mauricoyille, Eketahuna, Pahiatua. Akitio, Weber, Woodville, and Dannevirko Counties, with headquarters at llasterton.

No: 19, Poverty Bay, comprising Wairoa, Cook, AVaikohu, and Waiapu Counties,"with headquarters at Gisborne. No. 8, Taranaki—Comprising Patea, Hawera, Eltharn, Stratford,_ Waimate West, Egmout, Taranaki, Clifton, and Whangamomona Counties, with headquarters at Hawera. j No. 20, Wanganui—Comprising Wanganui, Waitotara, Waimarino, Kaitieke, and Ohura Counties, with headquarters at No. 9, Christchurch—Comprising- Waimairi, Heatlicote, Paparua, Halswell, Mount Herbert, Akaroa, Wairowa, and Chatham Island Counties, with headquarters at Christchurch. No. 10, South Canterbury—Comprising Asliburton, Geraldine, Levels, Waimate, and Mackenzie Counties, with headquarters at Timaru.

No. 11, North Canterbury—Comprising Ainuri, Cheviot, Waiparn, Ashley, Kowai, Rangiora, Oxford, Eyre, Tawera, Malvern, Springs, Ellesmere, and Selwya Counties, with headquarters at Kaiapoi. No. 21, West Coast—Comprising Westland, Grey, Inangahua, Buller, and Murchison Counties, with headquarters at Greymouth. 1 No. 12, Nelson—Comprising Collingwood, Takaka, Wainiea,.. Sounds, Marlborough, Awatere, and Kaikoura Counties, with headquarters at Nelson. No. 13, Dunedin—Comprising Peninsula,. Waikouaiti, and Taieri Counties, with headquarters at Dunedin. No. 1-1, Southland—Comprising Southland, Wallace, Stewart Island, Lake and Fiord Counties, with headquarters at lnvercargill.' No. 15, North Otago-Comprising Waitaki, Wai'nemo, Maniototo, and Vincent Counties, with headquarters at Oamaru. No. 16, Clutha—Comprising .Clutlia, Bruce, and Tuapeka Counties, with headquarters at Milton. Advantage has been taken of the present opportunity to renumber the groups that have hitherto had'other than a plain number. For instance, old No. 7a district, Wairarapa, now becomes No. IS, and No. 11a, West, Coast, now becomes No. 21. The other new districts have been numbered 17, 19, and 20. This method has been followed in order to preserve tho existing number of the groups that .already had a plain number, and so disturb defence records and files as little as, possible. It will be observed that the new districts are; Bay of Plenty, heretofore attached to No. 2 Group; Poverty Bay, which lias been separated from No. 7 Group, which latter group in turn has been enlarged by the inclusion of tho counties of Waipawa, Waipukurau.' and Patangata, from No. 18 Group; and. Wanganui, which has been formed by taking one county from No. 6 Oh-onp and the remainder from No. S Group. It will also be noticed that the Group recruiting districts for the cities of Auckland, Christchurch, and Dunedin, have been enlarged to include l tho adjacent counties which now, in fact, form what are commonly regarded as the greater metropolitan areas at theso centres. Maps of tho Dominion, showing the county boundaries and groups of counties forming the several Group recruiting districts, are now being prepared, -and when ready these will bo distributed, to each local authority for whose district a roll of men of military age wus compiled under tho Recruiting Board's scheme. By this means all Recruiting Committees will be able to see at a glance the precise district in which the.v* are now placed for •tho purposes of tho Military Service Act.-

i '?> hoped that the existing local body Recruiting Committees in such of the now districts where no organisation or tho kind already exists, -will take steps to form a strong central.executive, or, in the case of the larger group recruiting districts, one or more executives, as circumstances may determine, not only for the purpose of controlling recruiting as heretofore, but to assist..'ind advise with respect to matters that may arise from lime to time in the administration of tho Military Service Act. A direct appeal is being made by the Re-

crniting Board to each Iqcal body, to take steps in conjunction with its neighbours in each recruiting district to brinj such central executive or executives into existence. In tlfus emphasising the need, for a continuance of labours which have been arduous and exacting the hoard desires to express its grateful appreciation of the valuable assistancejhat has been, so cheerfully given practically over the whole Dominion.. ... . ' It is proposed, in tho immediate future, to proclaim the enrolment of the reserve, and exactly what is meant by that will' be fully explained- in .a further statement before the. proclamation, is gazetted,