MILITARY DEFAULTERS

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 209, 29 May 1919, Page 7

MILITARY DEFAULTERS

lllli UrrlUtiL MM' • MANY DOUBTFUL NAMES INCLUDED The official list.of military defaulters, issued last week, contains the names of eonio hundreds of .men who refused to discharge- their obligations under tho Military Service Act, and who becanio liable, therefore, to disfraiichisement aud other pennlties. But the list also contains many unmes to which much doubt attaches. Perusal of the list will show that thero are huudrods of "defaulters" with' obviously insufficient addressee; there are other addresses that, strongly suggest a probability that tho men concerned had moved before they were call- ' ed for military service. ! The defective addresses cover many seamen and firemen whoso Jiamee aro followed by the names of a steamer or of a shipping company. Addressee of this kind are of very little value in the- case of men who are continually on ; the move. Thea .there are men of various occupations, whose gazetted addresses are at hotels or boardinghouses. la illustration may be quoted a defaulter who is described as "wool-buyer. — Hotel, Wellington."- A ' wool-buyer who was staying at a Wellington hotel in, say, 1915, is not likely to have been there still when he was called ballot perhaps two years later. Then the' list contains men whose addresses are eiinply caro of post offices in various parts of the country. The rule of the Defence Department, the admiaistratioa of tho Military Service Act, has been to placo the onus of proof on the reservist. If a. man was called for service, the fact of hjs being called was prima J facie evidence that he tfas liable for service. Similarly if there ■was any doubt' about the status of a man - the Department'assumed the status that would bo most favourable to- the Dominion.from a recruiting standpoint. It is necessary to remember this rule in the, examination of the < defaulters' list. Tho ' list undoubtedly contains more namea than there are actual defaulters. But tho Department has retained doubtful names unless there was' proof that they ought to be omitied. The onus of securing the omission of doubtful names from the list is left upon the men concerned. • Tho- basis of the roll of the Expeditionary Force Reserve was the National Register, taken in 1915.. This register was designed to secure the name, address, and general status of every man of military age in New Zealand. The roll of tho Expeditionary Force Reserve was compiled in tho following year, and to it were transferred many names and addresses of the kind already described. Then, came the ballots. The ballotiiur officer drew his usual signature, say, John. Brown," -seaman, a.9. Athenic." Then a formal notice was sent to John Brown (tho name lias been coined for the purpose of illus- . tratkra). But in the meantime' the man had left the ship, served on various other ships, and possibly failed to return to New Zealand waters at all. The notice could not be delivered, and John Brown was added to the list of missiny reservists. He might be actually liable for service, so he could not safely be struck off the list. And so eventually he found his way on toithe defaitlters', list.' .■ Another type, of "defaulter" is themin "who signed a . National Register or Expeditionary Force enrolment form with his usual, signature, says, "John Brown,'' and later enlisted and was attested under his full name, "John James Brown." The names of enlisted men were chocked off against the roll, but in a ease like this "John Brown" would remain on the roll ■ as a man still to be accounted for. ..Then he would.be called iu the ballot and unless his relatives put-the matter right ho might eventually bo posted as a defaulter, though he was actually iii the Forces. Cases of.this kind were often complicated by faulty and insufficient , addresses. Many duplications of the sort ' have-been discovered, but there'is'reason to believe that' others havo not been 1 rural and that there are names in the defaulters' list representing men who have worn the uniform. . •■-.■•.. . Every man whose name appears in the defaulters' list has a' right of appeal. The authorities will be glad to receive information as to .errors in. the list, a'" will make the necessary corrections wherever it is shown that an injustice has been done. But tho rule still is that no 'name enn to struck off the list unless there Is definite evidence that it ought not to he there. If'a name appeared in ■a ballot list and has. not been'accounted for in any other may it is presumed to represent a defaulter.