THE BALLOT

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2934, 21 November 1916, Page 6

THE BALLOT

CHECKING THE LISTS POSITION OF EXEMPTED MEN ■' Tlie Government Statistician and • / j riia.. staff are now engaged in cheeking i the names of the men drawn for ser■vico in tho ballot last week. The -';\lvork is being dono wilder the superof' Mr. S. E. M'Carthy, S.M., 'who will certify to the accuracy of the >list before it is forwarded to the Govz \ernment for publication in the official In the meantime the notices ' * that will be sent to the selected men prepared at Defence Headquarters, so that there need be -no un- .■ -j inecessary delay in tlieir dispatch. It is. intended that: a telegram shall be •dispatched to each man On tho day on iwliich the names are gazetted. A '"printed notico will follow by registered post, hut tho period of ten days allowed for appeals will be reckoned from 1 .the date'of the publication of the Gazette. . t Many inquiries have been made retarding the position of men who have already been granted exemption from 'service--.'on the ground that they are engaged in essential.industries, but who may be summoned now owing ,to their names being drawn Tn the ballot. All ■ the exemptions granted up to the preKent time by the. -Ministry of Muni- - .tions and Supplies have been tem- ; : jporary, most of them expiring at, the ;■ - end of this year, and they-will'be suhj'jeot -to review inany case. If an exi\ pmpted man is drawn in the ballot, he ; jnust go before a Military Service Board in the ordinary way. If he can show that Lis enlistment would be "contrary to public interest owing tn . the : natiire of his occupation," tho .Board, which is likely to be truided by ' jthe recommendation of the Ministry of (Munitions and Supplies, may grant further exemption, but in no case will exemption be absolute. Among the -men who have been granted temporary 'exemption up to tlie present time .ire . wireless operators, farmers and farm hands, engineers, mechanics, ' coal- ■ ' miners, marine officers, dairy employees, medical students, fire brigade , members, electrical workers.-ammnni- , . tion makers, rmcTTjoilerniakers. 'A telegram from Masterton, publicli',fed yesterday, stated that a. married ;man or several years' standing, with ono chi'M, had received notice to enter V camp, his name having been' drawn in ? " the' ballot. The statement evidently j : was based upon r "lisunderstan'Mnii of ; - some kind, possibly arising from a hoax. No notices at all have yet been i sent out to men affected by iKe ballot. . The 'names, moreover, have been taken i - . entirely from among the reservists, of - tho First Division, consisting of un- ■ i married men,. men married sinc> iVfay ~ ,1, 1015, and widowers without child™ ' dependent upon them. It would be possible for a Harris to get into' thf : Iwrnng Division, since there are bound to be some mistakes ill a list containing more than 200,000 names., but if a married man of the kind described were : v.\.summoned with recruits - of tho Krst Division he could have the blunder rectified very easily.