OUR SOLDIERS

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 205, 24 May 1919, Page 6

OUR SOLDIERS

OVER 80 PER CENT. VOLUNTEERS THE DOMINION'S FINE RECORD \ During tho war New Zealand sent abroad ior foreign service 99,894 officers and men. Of this total, the computeory recruits numbered, roughly, 1!),000.' Tho ?' ea , .uiajority■ of tho members of the .Expeditionary Forco, more than 80,000 men, were voluncters. Voluntary .recruiting for the Expeditionary i'orco from the puthrcuk of war to September, 1916, when the Military Service Act came into operation, produced69,oßs fit men.. This was tlie number of men sent into camp. Tlicro wan some wastage in tho camps subsequently, but the.percentage reduction was.omall. Aftqr tho Military Service Act cams into operation volunteering continued concurrontly with the balloting syeletn. The number of volunteers after compulsion had been introduced was 24,105, and of this total 13,939 men were sent to camp, ■while 720 were under orders for camp when the nrmistico was signed. Medical re-oxamination added about HK) fit men to this total. . ; Tho number of men called up by ballot (excluding Maoris) was 1.'it,632. ' Then# men were classified as follow:— ' .First Division 80,053 Section Division.— ■Class A (married men ' ■■ ■ .without children) 1,3,466' Class B (married men ; Vith one chi1d)17,507 • Class C .(married men -• with two children) • 23(576 Total-called up ......... 134,632 Some of these men were not medicallj examined. _ They made successful appeals, failed to appear, or wore accounted for in some other way. The number of balloted men actually exajniped was 121,619, and tliey .were dealt - with aa follow, 1 Balloted lien. Total fit men. embarked 18,838 .Total fit men.not embarked 27,275 ■ Classed C 2 72,859 Classed D;.... 2,547 Tptai .;::....,i2i,oi9 The result of the medical examinations, according to classes, is shown in th« following table:— First CLasS Class Class - Div. A. . B. . C. Fit men em- .' barked 18,006 796 ' ;32 ' 6 Fit men not embarked ... 10,566 2,015 5,531 8.561 'Classed C 2 ... 39,990.. 8,415 10,'556 13,598 Classed D ..... 2,201 . 105 .130 111 Totals ....... 71,003 .11,331 16,551 22,574 These figiireSv6how that, only 36 married men with children were cent- abroad under the compulsory clauses of the Military Service' Act'. - The 27.275 fit men who were not embarked includo a largn proportion of the 9924 men who .were in the training camps at tho dato of the armistice and also some thousands of men who. were granted exemption or. suspension by tho military service boards.