THE REINFORCEMENTS

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 42, 13 November 1917, Page 6

THE REINFORCEMENTS

DECEMBER DRAFT TO III! DROPPED Br T«l(!iraoh—Prcnn AnoclntJon, Auckland, Novomber 12. Tho Minintor of Dol'nncn (tiir JginM Alien) state# tluit iih tlio romilt of tho roduotion in tlio reinlorci'miinlo ono draft will bo dropped in Drcimibor, And probably another draft later on.

It was announced nomn days ago that no recruits would bo tnknn into camp in Decombor. Tho draft Hint wns to havo commonced mobilisation on Decern, bor 12 has boon not buck until tho beginning of January. The .lanuary and February drafts will represent tho "washing up" of tlio First liivißiun, plus youths who aro'now roachi miliinry age. Tho prosent instruction to recruiting offices .is that volunteers attosted and medically examined, or balloted men medically examined between October 18, 11117,-and Dccombor 8, 1017, aro to lio taken into camp in tho period March 5-0. It is likoly that tho February draft will bo a comparatively Bmall one. Tho Maroh reinforceinont will include tho first batch of tho Second Division men. Tho dropping of a rocruit draft, or even two drafts, does not mean, that thero.need Ixs a break In tho dispatch of reinforcements to tho front. Owing to tho roduction of tho reinforcement quotas there aro men in hand at tlio present tlmo, and tho trained drafta will continue to be sont forward' as transports aro availablo.

Tho Thirty-Sixth Reinforcements, Tho recruits for tho Thirty-sixth Reinforcements aro being mobilised at Trontliiun and Feathorston this week. Tlio infantry aro going to Trentham, ana will spend somo weekß .under canvas before going to Foatherston. Tho mounted and artillery recruits are going to Feathorston. The segregation camp at Tnuhorenikau, which has been used for Fiicccssivo reinforcements during tho last six months, has now been abandoned as. far as tho ordinary reinforcements aroXconcerned. It is considered to have served its purposes during tho bad months of the,year by checking sickness aud preventing infection among the recruits during tha weoks immediately following thoir mobilisation. The health of tho troops has been particularly, good during the winter that li; past, no opidomio having assumed serious proportions. . Tlio segregation camp is to bo converted now into a permanent camp for the trninirig of CI mon. Necessary buildings will bo provided, and the temporary unfit recruits will receive their special training in what probably is the most healthy of tho military camps.