ABOUT "SHIRKERS"

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3070, 4 May 1917, Page 6

ABOUT "SHIRKERS"

INFORMATION IS WANTED. The officers in charge of the recruiting branch have spread their net very wide, but they have leason to believe that there are in New Zealand still a few men who are evading registration and service.. Some of these men have failed to register as members of the Expeditionary Force Reserve; others have been drawn in the ballot and havefailed to- report themselves to the authorities. The search for these missing reservists is proceeding all tho time, and their number is being reduced gradually, but - the recruiting officers would be glad to have the assistance of the general public in completing tho work. If a man has been drawn in the ballot and is evading the call, some of his [ acquaintances are likely to be aware of the fact. Sucli a man may have i changed his address, and by this means avoided receiving the official notice sent to his original address through the Post Office; then he may shelter himself behind a statement that the Defence" Department has not communicated (with him, and that lie will come when he is "sent -for." It is the duty of this man to report himself to the nearest Defence office. If ho prefers to keep out of sight, then the Director of Recruiting will be glad to receive tho name and address from any person who is aware of the facts.

A. suspicion that a man is not enrolled as a reservist and so is escaping the chances of the ballot can be tested easily enough. A person wanting assurance on a point of this kind can submit the name and address of the man concerned to the recruiting authorities ov the Government Statistician, and the point will bo cleared up without delay. The Recruiting Branch is always ready to set the necessary inquiry in motion.. The wish and the purpose of the branch is to account for every man of military age in New Zealand. Rumours regarding the attempts of this man or that man to "shirk" are circulated in almost erery part of New Zealand. Tim stories often am very unjust to the men concerned, ;>nd their circulation is to bn deprecated strongly. It is impossible for outsiders to know the innnr facts of many cases, particularly where won have been rejected by the medical boards. The propei - course is to submit any reasonable suspicion to the Recruiting Branch, and leave it at that.