SECOND ECHELON

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20119, 13 December 1939, Page 4

SECOND ECHELON

GISBORNE’S QUOTA SIMILAR TO MAIN BODY SURPLUS MAY BE CALL.ED STRONG MAORI RESPONSE The quota of men from Gisborne and the East Coast for the second echelon of the Special New Zealand Force, will be approximately the same as for the first echelon, for which the district provided 08 men apart from commissioned and non-commissioned officers. Official details of the quotas are not yet available, but information elicited from the No. 7 area office In Napier indicates that about 350 men will be required in connection with the main body of the force. There is a possibility that Gisborne will be called on to assist in making up shortages from other parts of the No. 7 area, there being already a surplus of men available here over the anticipated draft. The Herald recently published figures covering the accepted groups in tiiis district, showing a total of 79 men immediately available for service. The groups comprised single men, married men without children, and married men with one or two children. The area office in Napier has disclosed that for the combined districts between East Cape and Dannevirke there are about 200 men in all passed fit and immediately available. Gisborne’s contribution of 79, to this total, is highly creditable; and it is probable that shortages elsewhere may mean additional calls upon the men from this district. 118 Maori Volunteers Ready The part which this district is playing in the production of volunteers for the Maori Battalion is no less creditable than that in connection with the European forces. Gisborne and the East Coast have 118 Maori volunteers, of acceptable ages and marital condition, ready to go into camp when the call is made. These men represent the proportion of the total enlistments of Maoris who have been passed as fit, and their number actually exceeds that given by the area office in Napier for the whole of the military area, from East Cape to the Wairarapa.* During the past few days a substantial number of Maoris were medically boarded, and evidently the returns from this group had not reached Napier when the area totals were last made up.