COMPULSION
WAITING FOR THE ROLLS
SHIRKING FAMILIES
The. Minister of Defence stated yestorday that Clause 35 of the Military Servico Aot, dealing with shirking families of brothers, was in full operation, and already 200 names had been sent on to the Military Service Boards. Lists would be coming before him every few days for approval until all tho names of alleged shirkers of which the Defence Department had knowledge had been passed: on to the boards. "Volunteering," the_ Minister went on to say ; "is still going on, and we have no intention of stopping it. I do not say that all we have asked for are coming in- under the voluntary system, but; a very large number are coming in. As to compulsion, we are not yet in a position to act, because the rolls are not complete, and tho public must do all they can to fill up tho Twenty-second, and, perhaps the Twenty-third, by tho voluntary system. Until we havo the complete rolls we cannot re-assess the quotas or take the ballot." PRESENT POSITION REVIEWED The impending heavy shortage in the Twenty-second Reinforcements will emphasise the need for tho operation of the Military Service Act, and Defence Headquarters is expediting tho arrangements as much as possible. But the delay that must occur still .before the first considerable group (?f conscripts can be taken into camp will not necessarily involve an acute situation, that is .the dispatch of a Reinforcement from New Zealand below strength. The Defence authorities had established a good position before the recent successive shortages began to trouble them, anV although they have no longer any men in reserve, the actual deficiency is not as large as it would appear from the mere bald statement that the Twenty-second Reinforcements are going into camp from 1000 to 1200 men short of their proper number. - The Reserve, which consisted nominally of 1000 men, gave the training staff a margin on which to work. Then it has been the custom to add fivo per cent, to the number of men actually required when fixing the district quotas for a Reinforcement, in order to allow for normal wastage. A certain number of men had to be carried forward from the last Reinforcement to leave New Zealand, owing to its strength being above requirements, and the recent transfers of Artillery and Army Service Corps recruits to other branches, owing to an accumulation of reinforcements as the front, have' been a factor in easing th© situation. It has to be re-' membered, too, that the big shortage in the Twenty-second Reinforcements will represent the shortages of the last three drafts, since the quotas were fixed with the.object of wiping out the previous deficiencies.
If the shortage that will "bo reported at the end of this week can he wiped out when the Twenty-third Reinforcements go into camp next month the position will be regarded by Defence Headquarters as reasonably satisfactory, though the training scheme will have been hampered to somo extent by the fluctuations in the strength of the monthly drafts. The Defence Department may not be in a position to order a ballot under the Military Service Act before the Twenty-third Reinforcements enter camp, but some conscripts niay he secured during the next four weeks under Clause 85, and. thero are indications that the number of voluntary reomits available for the next draft will he fairly large. In Group 5 (Wellington City and Suburbs), for example, about 120 men have already been attested for . the Twenty-third' Reinforcements, whereas the number sent into camp yesterdav for the Twenty-second Reinforcements was only 190. The position, in some other districts is stated to he Ipss hopeful, but an effort will he made all over the Dominion to promote brisk recruiting during the noxfc few weeks.
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Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2905, 18 October 1916, Page 5
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631COMPULSION Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2905, 18 October 1916, Page 5
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