THE REINFORCEMENTS.
A REDUCTION of 20 per cent, in the strength of the reinforcements for the New Zealand infantry on active service was announced on
Tuesday by the Minister of Defence, the AYur Office having informed the Government that a draft of 12 per cent, monthly instead of the present 15 per cent, will be sufficient to maintain the three infantry brigades in France. The strength of the various reinforcements has varied but on the average it is about 2,250, which represents 15 per cent, for infantry, and a lower rate for other branches of the service. On the new basis (he reduction m the rate of infantry reinforcements is equivalent to about 330 men a month, so that the total draft will in future be approximately 1,920. Thus the total number of reinforcements required in a year will be about 25,000, instead of nearly 30,000. In determining the rate of 12 per cent, allowance has evidently been made for any “accumulation” which it may lie suggested has developed from the continuance of the higher rate, as the Minister plainly indicates that existing shortages in camp must be made good before he reduces the number of men called up each month. That the arrears are not very serious is suggested by the fact that Sir James Allen has postponed the probable date for the first ballot of the second division by a month. The continuation of the present drafts for some months will be more readily accepted in view of the knowledge that it, will permit the return on furlough of men of the “main body” still on active service. All the men of the “main body” in Egypt and 50 per cent, of those in France are lo be given six or eight weeks’ leave in New Zealand, and during their absence from the front —probably six months —other men will be required to replace them. The statement that this decision a lied s from 2,000 to, 2,500 men suggests that “main body” in this connection means not only those who sailed for the. front in October, 1914, but all who fought on Gallipoli.
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Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 1746, 11 August 1917, Page 2
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355THE REINFORCEMENTS. Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 1746, 11 August 1917, Page 2
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