DEPARTURE OF DRAFTS

Evening Star, Issue 23383, 28 September 1939, Page 10

DEPARTURE OF DRAFTS

TO COMMENCE ON TUESDAY ENTRAINING PROGRAMME Practically all the notices to proceed to camp next week have been posted to those selected for inclusion in the first drafts for the special force which is being raised for service at home or overseas. The first batch will leave Dunedin on Tuesday and , others will depart according to the branch of service to which they have been posted, on successive days up to Friday. Instructions have been issued to the men to assemble at the northern end of the Dunedin railway station, but as it is desired to give members of the public an opportunity of seeing them leave, they are asked to gather at the Queen’s Gardens 15 minutes before the time thev are to meet at the station. They will then march to the station in a body. Details who have been notified to join the train north of Dunedin on October 3 and 5 should note that the special troop traim will leave Palmerston at 12.30 p.m. and Onmaru at 2.15 p.m. on those days. The trains on the other days will adhere to the normal express time-table. The various drafts will depart as follows : Tuesday, October 3.—Drafts for the Divisional Cavalry Regiment (motorised), artillery, and machine gun battalion. Parade at the station at 10.15 a.m.; Queen’s Gardens at 10 a.m. Wednesday, October 4,—Drafts for headquarters, base details, and Divisional Signal Company. Assemble at the station at 11 a.m.; Queen’s Gardens at 16.45 a.m. Thursday, October s.—Drafts for rifle battalion. Parade at the station at 10.15 a.m.; Queen’s Gardens at 10 a.m. Draft for engineers. Parade at the station at 11.15 a.m.; at the Queen’s Gardens at 11 a.m. Friday. October 6.—Draft for the New Zealand Army Service Corps (including the Reserve Motor Transport Company). Parade at the station at 8.15 a.m.; Queen’s Gardens at 8 a.m. SPECIAL FORCE TWENTY-SEVEN REGISTERED YESTERDAY Twenty-seven registrations for service in the special force at home or abroad were received yesterday. There was a sharp rise in the number of daily registrations when the increase in the maximum age limit was announced, hut since then there has been a gradual decline. The registration officer’s clerical staff is still fully occupied, however, in dealing with the registrations already made and grading them according to the results of the medical examination. Registrations are initially classed as follows: —Group 1 (officers on the reserve or active list), Group la (retired or ex-officers), Group 2 (single men), Group 3 (married men without children), and Group 4 (married men with children). The registrations received yesterday were;— ■ , , r t . f , ; "LINEDJN. 'V i-v-; '•-—Group I. r Lieutenant James Maxwell Briggs. —Group 2. Norman William Arthur, Edward William Berryman (Balclutha), John Burke (Lauder), Alexander Phillip Hanna, Thomas Aaron Hughes, Sydney William Jarvis, George Arthur Johnston, Raymond AValker Morgan, William White Strachan Mackie (East Taicri), Robert Donald MacDonald (Kawarau Gorge), David Jolly Milne (Kawarau Gorge), Archibald William M'Millan (Kawarau Gorge), Graham Elder Neill, Francis Mortimer O’Donohue (Nnseby), Alan Hunter Patrick, Albert William Thomson (Cromwell), Francis John Weatherall (Nasehy). John Minto Welsh. Bruce Copeland Wilson (Haast Pass). —Group 3. John Corcoran Fleming, Donald Duncan Alexander Cameron. —Group 4. Frederick Carter. William Dickson, Henry Charles Osborn, Owen Talon Sheridan. OAMARU. —Group 4. Francis Huia Tipa (Hampden). SLOWED DOWN fPea United Press Association.] September 23. Recruiting for the Special Force slowed almost to a stop in Christchurch to-day, and in the first three hours that the registration office was open there were only three enrolments. It is emphasised that although the actual Canterbury quota is filled, men are still required, as some areas—particularly Otago and Southland—are slow in completing their quotas, and it might be necessary to complete the total by extra enrolments in Canterbury, Nelson, and the West Coast.