THE BALLOT FOR SERVICE

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2933, 20 November 1916, Page 4

THE BALLOT FOR SERVICE

FIRST DRAW COMPLETED ON

SATURDAY

FORMALITIES YET TO BE COMPLIED WITH

STATISTICAL DEPARTMENT COMPLIMENTED

" H TI, the reservists ol tne JMrst Division was brought to a - close on Saturday morning after ninety minutes work. Four districts had in- .. complete quotas wlion tho proceedings "™° j c v! t . n,cd , at 9 a ' m -> and ahoSt - ™ additional names wer« required. ' ' lu'i districts were Nos. 4 (Hamilton), s }0 (Tiniaru), 11 (Rangiora), and 19 1 I;?!? 6 ,)' a " d of tl] eso No. 4 was the . first filled. The balloting became verv - slow owing to the high proportion of . blanks produced by each' draw. The , number of "live" cards among the 194 . raised after the drawing of a marble fell as low as five, and to tho assist . ants, keen to Teach the end .of their )• long and tedious task, the proceedings ; becamo invested with some of tho in- ! terest of a game of chance. 1 The marhle numbered 13 was drawn f after the Hamilton district liad drop- ; ped out, but it: proved a lucky one. . Fifteen of the thirteenth card's 'in the. ( 194 boxes were "live," and two mora draws completed the Timaru and Rangi- . ora districts. The Gisborne district s remained in tlio ballot alone, and 26 j additional recruits were needed! to complete it's quota. The first draw pro- [ duced only two men, the next eight j men, and the third seven men. Then j tbo Mayor of 'Wellington' (Mr. J. P. Luke) drew a marble at the request of tho Government Statistician, after the , barrel had been given an especially vigorous rattle. His marble brought | up five "live" cards. Four more names ! were required, when Mr. M. J. Rear- ' don (president of the Wellington Trades and Labour Council) drew the last marble. Eleven cards belonging to the Gisborne district were found among the 194, and the first four were taken, in the order in which the boxes had, been arranged in tho preliminary ballot for position. • That completed the first ballot, which had been in progress since Thursday morning, and - some fifty girls sat back in their chairs ' with siglis of relief. "Exact and Impartial." A few brief speeches closed the proceedings. The Mayor of Wellington said that on behalf of the* citizens of the capital city, and of the Dominion, generally he wished to express appreciation of the exact and impartial manner in which the ballot had been conducted. He had watched the proceedings closely, and he was absolutely satisfied with the way the work had boen done. He was sure that every other person who had been present during tie ballot felt as he aid on that; point. The system adopted had not permitted of any errors or unfairness. The Government Statistician and! his staff had done their part conscientiously and carefully, ana he did not think that the result could cause heart-burn-ing in any quarter. Mr. Liike added that lie hoped the girls, who had faced a severe task very pluckily, would nob feel any personal responsibility for the selections that had 1 been made. , They had simply'performed the will of Parliament, and .the actual choice of recruits had been dictated by the chances of the ballot. ' Mr. M. J. Reardon thanked! the Government ..Statistician . _ (Mr. Malcolm Fraser) and the presiding magistrate (Mr. S. E. M'Carthy) for their consistent courtesy and for their willingness to give all possible information and listen to every inquiry and suggestion. The Legislature had decrced that the new method of recruiting was necessary. and lie felt that no possible exception could be taken to the manner in which the decision of the Legislature had been given effect to. He thought that the ivhole country deplored the necessity for compulsory enlistment. But since the necessity had arisen, it was a matter for congratulation that the Dominion had the services of Mr. Malcolm Fraser and his highly efficient staff. The balloting had been done faithfully aud well. Mr. M'Oartiiy said that.his duty hart been to 'see that the ballot was conducted impartially: The work had been done in the right way, and Mr. Fraser deserved great praiso for the excellencs of the arrangements that had been, made. Mr. Fraser's Acknowledgment. Mr. Fraser returned thanks on behalf of his Department. He was very, glad to have the testimonies to the absolute fairness of the ballot. In designing the system that had been adopted ho had been compelled to keep two points in. viow. He had to be readv to tako a ballot at any time, and he liad to keep the machinery of tho register moving, so as to correct and supplement the roll ?.s additional information reached him. If the ballot had been the sole end, he. might have been able to devise a system that would have worked more rapidly, though no more fairly. Ho did not say that no errors would be discovered. The human factor was always liable to produce errors in such a work as the compilation of the Register, involving the handling of over 300,000 cards. But lie coula state confidently that if there were errors they were "miman errors, not to be attributed to bias _ of any kind. He had avoided exercising a. judicial function in the compilation or the Register from the cafds supplied l by the members of the Expeditionary Force Reserve. If there was doubt about any man's status, then that man went ou to the roll. A man. who was improperly on tho roll could easily get> his name removed or transferred by producing tho ■.necessary evidence, and it seemed a more serious thing to leave a man off when lie should be enrolled than to enrol a, man who should be left; ofF or "who should bo in a class other than the one assigned him. In conclusion those present sang "God Save the King." Checking the Lists. Explaining the future procedure, the Government Statistician informed a Dominion' reporter that tho names ot" selected recruits had been transcribed from the cards during .the progress ot 1 the ballot, and were now being printed in the' Government Printing Ofbce. When the. printed proofs were ready, every name would be checked m comparison with tho original cards by tho Magistrate and Mr. Fraser himself. In Hie meantime, the Magistrate held carbon copies of the original transcriptions, and these could be. checked against the record_of tho cards drawn from each box. mis record had been kept by another officer during ths course of the ballot. Tho names finally would be arranged in alphabetieaf order, and the Magistrate, would then certify to tho list, which would "be forwarded to tho Government and published for general information in the official "Gazette." He did not propose to begin tho work of chocking the names" until Monday, and necessarily tho task would occupy some time.