MILITARY SERVICE ACT

Nelson Evening Mail, 28 September 1916, Page 6

MILITARY SERVICE ACT

MILITARY APPEAL BOARDS

In making the announcement concerning the Military Appeal Board, Mr Allen, according to the Post, said that in making the selection the Recruiting Board laid down for itself certain principles. One was that, if possible, Magistrates should be secm-ed as chairmen. Another was that all the members selected, whether Magistrates or not, were to be beyond military age, and were to have no sons who might be expected to have enlisted and who had not done so. The "board also laid down the principle that the men selected should be wellknown in their districts, and that they should he "broad-minded men, without any prejudices, men who were likely to command the confidence of the public in their judgments. Adherence to these principles made it necessary for the Recruiting Board to pass over certain gentlemen who would have been estimable members of the boards, but who did not comply with the conditions laid down. "We avoided as far as possible," he said, "the selection of gentlemen who occupied public 1 ' positions, to which they had been appointed by the vote of the electors—as, for instance, members of Parliament, or the Mayors of cities or borousrhs. "All that part of the Act these boards have to deal with has been placed under the administration of the Hon. Mr Myers, who has Ibeen dealing with the subject of exemptions while we have been obtaining recruits under the voluntary system. "The Magistrates, who will be the chairmen o£ the boards, have . been called together, and they will consider some of the more important issues likely to arise in the work they will have to do. Probafelv one of the most important things they have to consider is the securing of uniformity in decisions. The Recruiting Board is very anxious that there shall be no possible reason for complaint that in one district the Appeal Board- made it very difficult for a man to secure exemptions, while in another district the board made it comparatively easy. The members of the Recruiting Board realise that if the Act is to be well administered, and if public confidence is to fee secured, exemption must be obtained in all parts of New Zealand on somewhat similar grounds.

"The Magistrates have -been selected by the Minister of Justice, and in making the other selections the Recruiting Board has endeavoured to represent as far as possible the feeling of the people in the district by choosing one member resident in a city or acquainted with city life, and the other member resident in the country. No man has been selected because he represents any particular section of the community, and all the names submitted have had due consideration, subject to the rules we laid down. As it turns out, there are two of the members appointed who have been interested specially in labour matters. One is Mr D. M'Laren. of Wellington ', and the other is Mr Kellett, secretary of the Carpenters and Joiners' Union, Dunedin.

"The mem'bers of the board will receive each one guinea} per day while they are in session, one pound per day travelling allowance, and actual locomotion expenses."