ANOTHER SHORTAGE

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2880, 19 September 1916, Page 6

ANOTHER SHORTAGE

* 21st REINFORCEMENTS

WELLINGTON DRAFT BELOW STRENGTH The draft from No. 5 Group (Wellington City and Suburbs) for the Twenty-first Reinforcements was paraded at. the Buckie Street Barracks yesterday aftornoon. The number of men required to fill the' group's quota was 191. Tho Defence officers, in view of previous shortages, had called up 240 men, in order to allow a margin for absentees. But the number of men who responded to the call yesterday was 140, so that there is a shortage of 51 men. Some of the men who did not appear had asked to be transferred to later reinforcements; others had not communicated with tho ritics sinco registering for service. Tho Wellington draft will go into camp this morning, the men being required to parado at the barracks at eight o'clock. They will leave the barracks about nine o'clock, and will march through tho city to Lambton Station. Men required to cover the shortage will, bo sent into camp to-day week, and those who wish to got into camp quickly have now a chancc to do so, since the Group Office wiTI be prepared to acccpt registrations for the present draft during this week. The shortage! a® usual, is in the Infantry, the arm which absorbs tho great majority of the men required for each reinforcement. Tho mobilisation of tho Twenty-first Reinforcoments will proceed during tho present week, and the final figures will not be available until Saturday. Tho indications are that .there will again bo a substantial shortage. Reports from Auckland have suggested that a full draft will not be sent from that district, unless mobilisation is much more complete than lias been tho rule for some time past. The books show a sufficient number of registorod men, but the authorities cannot count upon a full muster of the men who are summoned. The position of tho southern districts will be revealed towards the end of tho week, when tho drafts reach camp. The shortage in Group 5 (Wellington City and Suburbs) illustrates again tho need for the change that tho Recruiting Board has now decided\to make in the method of enlistment. ' After tho end of this week tho man who registers for servico and passes the medical examination will be required to take tho oath of allcgiance, and will bo handed a day's pay. In other words, ho will becomo a soldier at once, and will bo regarded as on leavo until he is called up for training. When tho mobilisation call roaches hiin it will bo an order, not an invitation. This is tho system that has prevailed in tho United Kingdom siuce tho outbreak of war. _ It, complicates tho work of registration to some extent, but it docs not leavo tho existing loopliolo for tho man who registers, passes tho doctors, dons his armlet—and then fails to answer the call to camp. The recruit who doos not respond to the summons under the new conditions will ho sent for. The itumbor of men on tho books of the Defence Department as fit for service and waiting to bo called tip for future reinforcemonts is between 4000 and 1 5000. These men, as already announced by tho Recruiting Board, will bo required to present themsolves at a recruiting offifo for attestation, and will each receive a "day's pay. They will bo . advised when and whore they are to take tho oath, and if they do not appear they will be struck off tho list, and will return to the status of ordinary reservists, liable to bo selected l by ballot under the Military Service. Act. Tho experience of the ;various districts during the last few months has suggested that somo of these men do not really intend to go into camp as volunteers at all. They will have to malco their intentions clear under tho now system, WELLINGTON. ENLISTMENTS. THE PROPORTION OF REJECTIONS. Since tho beginning of tho present month approximately 400 registrations have been recorded at the headquarters of Group 5 (Wellington City and Suburbs). Tho men accepted for servico with various Reinforcements have numbered! 225, and those rejected on medical grounds have reached a total of about 173. The fit men have been assigned to tho drafts of their choice, the proportion available for service during the present month being not large. ' The majority of tho rejections c-n medical grounds are on account of hernia, varicose veins, and varicocele. Bad feet, which are stated to have accounted for a very largo number of rejections in other centres, do not appear to have been prevalent, not moro than a couple of dozen cases being mentioned in the dootors' reports. The following additional recruits liave been accepted for service in Group 5 (Wellington City and Suburbs) : — J. C. Jones, farm hand, City. l'\ Desmond, clerk, City. It. S. Goode, driver, City. M. J. M'Kenna, d'ruggist, City. A. Turner, cabinetmaker. City. It. S. Crosbie, fireman, City. W. E J. Smith, labourer, City. F. L. Hook, butcher, City. A'. Hanson, labourer, City. J. Speedy, farmer, Lower -Hutt. J. W. Fleming, cook, Masterton. W. H. Oowie, labourer, City. A. Holtz, springmaker, Karori. "TAKING THE SHILLING." • THE PAYMENT TO RECRUITS. Tlio Defence Minister was asked yesterday_ whether the recently-announced intention of tho Government to pay os. (a day's pay) to every recruit offering his services was without limitation. ]t was suggested to him that men who knew they could not be accepted might volunteer in order to get the fee. Mr. Allen replied that this point was under consideration, and! that there would be certain limitations. "It must not bo supposed," ho said, "that wo promise to pay ss. or anything at all to anybody who comes to us as a volunteer. The plan will work out well enough in case of men called! up for medical inspection after a compulsion ballot, because then tho numbers will be restricted. But under the voluntary system we have to take care that the man who knows ho is unlit, who knows he cannot he accepted, will not come aloDg to get 55." REPORTS FROM THE SOUTH. Br Telegraph—Press Association. Christchurch, September 18. North Canterbury and Nelson /eport full quotas for the Twenty-first Reinforcements, but South Canterbury reports a shortage of 25 infantry, and Greymouth a shortage of 45 infantry.