FIRST DIVISION

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3011, 23 February 1917, Page 6

FIRST DIVISION

NEARLY 60,000 MEN REMAIN

OFFICIAL FIGURES

; A return prepared by the Govern- : went Statistician shows that after the '■•completion o f ; the -Fourth Ballot a fortnight ago the roll of the First ;■' .Division of the Expeditionary Force .Reserve still contained 59,952 names. ..- It .ia-.ndt possible to estimate with .certainty how long this number of men ■■ can supply the fit recruits required month by month for the reinforcement <• drafts, since *tho proportion of rejec- . , tions and exemptions cannot be gauged '." in. advance; But as'-was stated in .;, lsE. Dominion :. last: week, it does ■'.-. abt; appear likely that the- Second OJivision men can be kept out of tho .1 ballot,, after August next. If the — ■'Married men are included in the Sep- ..■■'- xember ballot, the first 1 batch of compulsorily enlisted Second Division re..cruits" will, enter'camp in November. ','; Any estimate of thi/j character must bo subject to amendment. More than .17,000 men have been drawn in the "..four ballots, already taken, and it is v. known that the.Defence Department : : ' is drawing three names for each re-

cruit actually required/ the margin .» being considered necessary to cover re- '■■;-' jectioris, exemptions, suspensions, etc. '..But no official figures have yet. been ' made available as to the number of -balloted men actually taken into the training camps or ae to the proportion ■'.;,', of. medical rejections. Unofficial figures indicate that the number of -- -balloted men already put into training '!•:. in. ' consequence .of. the first three bal- ; • lots, is mucb. below the'original estimate. But these figures.do not pro- ~~- vide a sound ljaeis of calculation, since the machinery of compulsion ran slowly'■:. at, first, and is now moving ■ rapidly. Batches of recruits are ■-.. going into camp week by week. .; Another month or two may elapse be- ■:•=.- fore the returns disclose just what : ; " percentage of fit men, available for '.Vactive service, the First Division con- " tains. • . ■ ••,.■: .... : The First Division Reservists, whose, ;:.;. names have not yet been drawn in the V; ballot, are distributed as follows:— . District. Number. - ■ 'Auckland City ............ 9154 ' ' Hauraki .................. 1433 . North - Auckland 1749 Waikato : • 2659 ' ■Wellington City ........... 6212 - ■ Maiiawatu 2774 / Hawke's Bay ...;.......„-• 2306 Taranaki-....: ;..;.... 2820: : ■ ' Christchurch " ............ 4438 "•' ' :■: 'South Canterbury :. 2791 • North Canterbury ...... 1575 ■Nelson. -J .'..• 2165 : Dunedin 3864 ••■■ Southland ...;......... 3572 ■■ ...'■; North Otago : .... 1304 .-,'■■ Clutha .....:,..........:... 1173 ■ ; Bay of Plenty ............ 1163 ' '■•■.' -Wairarapa ............... ,2336 t Poverty 8ay.:..;...... ...... 1847 ■ Wanganui 2253 . AVest Coast ; 2374 These reservists include a very lurge number of men who have already vol- .: iinteered, and have, been rejected on -medical grounds. They include also ; all the men engaged in exempted industries—miners, shearers, elaughter- .■■/•• men, and so forth. ■