COMPULSORY SERVICE

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2911, 25 October 1916, Page 6

COMPULSORY SERVICE

N0 BALLOT THIS MONTH

HOW ENROLMENT PROCEEDS

80,000 MEN IN FIRST DIVISION

It is now improbable that any ballot under tho Military Servico Act ( will be taken this month. Tho Gov- j eminent Statistician, who is enrolling tho Expeditionary Force Reserve, promised tho Recruiting Board that lie would he in a position to take a ballot this mouth if required, and this promise ho could now fulfil, but only at the expense of gravo disorganisation of the work of getting the Register into good shape. However, there are , other difficulties yet to be surmounted, ( Medical Boards have to bo found for : the , four military districts, and every • board has to consist of. three medical , moil. It is understood that it may not ho quite an easy matter to get thoso doctors. They wjll of course he found, but tlio mattor is not one for speedy , settlement. There are also other administrative difficulties. None of these are such that they could not be surmounted if the need were imperative, but the authorities hope that, with tho aid of Clause 35, by wliich shirking families of brothers may be callcd up summarily, they will be able to win through for another month. The first batch of notices under Clause 35 were sent out on Mondav. The Minister of Defence has already authorised the sending of notices to several hundred men whose names have been submitted to him in lists, but tho Defencc authorities have had to make inquiries concerning the persons named' in order to avoid occasioning unpleasantness by sending notices to men' who ought not to receive them, and these inquiries have taken a littlo time. Tt is estimated that about 500 men will ho obtained under Clause 35. Msinv more than this number of names are in the hands of the authorities, but allowing 1 for a reasonable number of rejections and exemptions there should be 500 men fit and available for service. The men who are affected by Clause 35 have had ample notice of their liability for service, and there is still time for them to avoid being conscripted by coming forward as volunteers. The Act" states that if there are in a family two or more sons who are members of the first division (unmarried, widowers without children, or married since May, 1915), then theso sons are liable for servico as members of tlio Expeditionary Force. Tho object of the clause is to secure equality of sacrifice as between families. A family can put itself outside tho clause by providing its share of volunteers, or by showing that members havo already offered their services to tlio country and havo been rejected. Failing that, all the sons will be summoned before the board, though it is unlikely they will -all be required to servo. The work of preparing tho Rcgistor has proved a task of unexpected difficulty. One of tho branches of tho work which turned out to bo in. itsolf a big business was the recording of the ohanges of address of men, already, en-' lolled on. the National Register. Altogether 50,000 ohanges of . address were notified, a much, greater number than was expected. Ivotiiications conio in daily, but it will not Ijo possible to record theso on the rolls to bo printed. They will be recorded in tho actual roll, which consists of the filed schedules filled in and supplied by the Reservists themselves. The printed rolls will probably give tho addresses of tho men during September or October. The other heavy task has been the preparation of enrolment certificates for all Reservists. For a very long time the Statistician's staff have been at- work on these, 'and not one certificate has yet been issued. About/half of them are now prepared ready ior issue, and notices will be sent out to the men who should receivo them at the end of this week or timing next week. Every Reservist will receive a notice to call at his most convenient post office, and receive his certificate, - giving a receipt' for it. Tho names obtained by this procoss will supply tho matter for the printed rolls. This- procedure will eliminate (all possibility of I tho rolls being incorrect. Effort has been concentrated on deali ing first with.the First Division of tho i Reservo, the unmarried men without dependants. Approximately, tho number ' of these men enrolled is 80,000. The percentage of unfits and exemptions will i be very high, but it is considered- that I of the 80,000 from 20,000 to 25,000 will ) be fit and available for service.