THE CALL FOR MEN

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2865, 1 September 1916, Page 6

THE CALL FOR MEN

TWENTIETH REINFORCEMENT STILL SHORT

COMPLETION OF DRAFT POSTPONED , The military districts have not succeeded in covering their shortages for tho Twentieth Reinforcements. They were asked'to' send the additional men required to Featherston Camp by Wednesday of this week, but.retums made available;yesterday showed.that each of the.four districts bad failed to completo its quota. The net shortage of : all arms for tho Twentieth Reinforco ■>.-■■ ments is now 220 men,' including'l94 infantry, • and the Defence authorities have decided to let this deficiency stand for the present. The military districts have been asked to add, to their/ quotas for tho Twenty-first Rein- ' . forcements the number, of men short in this month's draft. Tho total shortage is mado up as follows .

Other . Infantry, arms. Total. / 'Auckland 34 6 40 Wellington' . 85 5 100 Canterbury ... 30 ' 7 37 ■ Otago ............ 35 6 41 ■This makes a. total of 218, to which has to be added a 7 men ■' for the Twenty-second n;c.o.'s, who went into camp with the Twentieth Reinforcements. Other Reinforcements have had shortages at the time of mobilisation, but. the additional men required have always been taken into camp as quickly as possibly. The decision to let the present shortage stand until the mobilisation of the Twenty-first Rein- ' - forcements next month is significant of the increased difficulty in securing re- ' cruits. Obviously there.'can be no cer- ■ tainty that the, next draft will he com- ' plete in itself, and there is a possibility that unless the districts make a special effort during the next few . weeks, shortages will become cumulative until the conscription is brought into operation. It is admitted that the Government cannot secure any recruits under the compulsory clauses of the Military Service Act ( unttt October, at the earliest, as much '■' preliminary work has still to be done. ■Reports' from. various parts, of the ■ ■;. country, indicate that the passing of 1 tho Military Service Act, and 'the an- . ■ nouncemeht' that the Expeditionary Force Reserve is to be enrolled at once, have, had the effect of checking volun- ■ tary enlistment. This result is particularly marked in the case of men T who possess ' domestic or business responsibilities.' Many men of this class re- ; spended to the call for recruits prior to the passing of the Act. ' They were prepared to make heavy personar sacrifices at a time when the maintenance of the Reinforcements depended upon individual voluntary effOTt, but tney ■ feel entitled to wait their turn in the ordinary way now that conscription is the law of the l tnd.. Apparently it is \not generally understood throughout the country, ia spite it the explicit 7 statements of the Recruiting Boardj that the Defence Department' must continue to depend upon voluntary enlistment until the. Act becomeg fully ■ operative a month or two hence. '

More Men for the Camp.. Ten additional. men fbr the 19th Infantry Reinforcements were sent into camp yesterday from Wellington City. They included the following:—James White, G. Halvorsen, John Tindblad, K. Kristersen, J. J. Driscoll, J. Campbell, A. Grant, and A. O'Hagan. STATEMENT BY' MINISTER. DRAFT TIP TO STRENGTH. ' \ ' '.The. Twentieth draft will go away up to strength," said the Minister of Defence last mailt when his attention was drawn to the fact that there Was Btill a, heavy shortage in this draft. "We have no . idea , of sending .this or any other draft away below It has happened that we .have been /unable to send away the full strength i of a draft. The Sixteenth, for mstance, did not go at full strength, hut : that was not because we did not have the men. ..We hadl not accommodation ■ for them in the transports.' If it ever ■ happens that we have space for more . than the full number'in any transports we will send them. We are doing all ,we can to send men away in the re-' quired numbers, and .we; have 110 irt-en-tion'whatev'er of making" the Twentieth Reinforcements, a smaller draft than eriy of the others. The Twentieth draft will be made up to strength."