AUSTRALIAN RESERVES OF MEN.

Nelson Evening Mail, 21 September 1916, Page 4

AUSTRALIAN RESERVES OF MEN.

The Commonwealth statistician, Mr G. H. Kni'bbs, recently prepared a return of the number of males eligible for military service, based on the war census cards. Deducting the number of men who have embarked since the census -was taken from the number revealed by the census, a total of 507,399 men of mili'tary ago is shown as remaining in the Commonwealth on June 9—203,402 of them 'being single men, 5243 widowers and divorced men, and 293,754 married men. Commenting on these figures the statistician makes a remark regarding his

method of calculation. "The total of I 507,399 is probably approximately cor-

rect," he says, "but the distribution according- to conjugal condition is less satisfactory, since it depends in respect of embarkations on the analysis of a sample parcel taken from the rolls of the first division despatched in October, 1914." Having arrived at the number of men in the Commonwealth on June 9, allowance has still to be made for the number in camp. The military authorities supplied the statistician with a return, which placed the number at 54,781 on June 9. Using the same 'basis of calculation as before to obtain tiie conjugal condition, Mr Knibbs decided that of the men in camp 60,492- were single, 394 widowers and divorced men. and 3895 married men. Deducting these from the total, he arrived at the following totals of men of military age "not yet enlisted, or enlisted, but not yet in camp" : Single men, 152,910; widowers and divorced meiij. 4849 ; married men, 294,859 ; total, 452,618.