HOME SERVICE

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3110, 14 June 1917, Page 4

HOME SERVICE

* THE OBLIGATIONS OF RESERVISTS. Sineo the Military Service Act came,into operation many thousands of men have been classified "as lit for Home Servico only. The Minister of Defence has stated recently that men or 43 to 45 years of ago are to lx> employed only in Home Service, since the military authorities prefer not to send them into the firing line. There appears to be doubt in some quarters as to what Homo Service really K "Does it mean service in England or New Zealand ?" asks a Reservist. "What is the nature of such service? Would! it necessitate the existing military training? Would it, assuming the service relates to New Zealand, mean total military service, or would it permit of a. portion of time being devoted to a civil occupation?" . . ' Tho Reservist who is placed in the Home Service class comes under clause 14 of the Military Service Act, which reads :— "If tho Commandant is satisfied ' that any man w'ho has been called up for service in the Expeditionary Force is pcrmane,ntly medically unfit for active service beyond the seas, the Commandant shall . . ... exempt him from foreign service, in which case he shall remain a member of the Expeditionary Force liable for military service in New Zealand in such capacity as the Commandant from time to time thinks fit Military service as used in this connection means any service in connection with or for tlio purposes of the present war." The Homo Service man is not liable to lie sent abroad. Ho will not be giTcn military training of the ordinary kind, since he is not required to fight. But he is under military orders, and he may be required to perform any service in connection with or for tho purposes of the present war." The Defence Department, up to tho present time, has not imposed any duties at all-on Home Service men. Volunteers from this gromp have been accepted for certain duties m the military camps, harbour fortifications and elsewhere, and any Reservist so employed must leave his civilian employment. What further use tho Government will make of tho Home Service men remains to"l>e seen, and depends presumably upon the duration of the war. Tt has been stated already that, tho group is to be re-examined before the mobilisation of the' Second Division begins.