The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER MONDAY, OCTOBER 4, 1915. THE NATIONAL REGISTER.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXVIII, Issue 30, 4 October 1915, Page 4

The Stratford Evening Post WITH WHICH IS INCORPORATED THE EGMONT SETTLER MONDAY, OCTOBER 4, 1915. THE NATIONAL REGISTER.

Wh'ori .'the last mails left England) ®\ e $ Hiitaiu, jFpr ,the first time in his-j tory was taking, an .absolute record of ! the capacity of her people to offer ser-' < ' i( ,' o ' \ l '\ Foi:, the .first; time 'the NaUonaJ IJegister now being room. pleteVi ij) Britain, the State makes in—] q'liiy of tjien/hp]e ( population, within 'age limits, a,* t<> wliyt,, it is ihey. do,' what they ,ca,n,.,d0,, a"|d what, in the nature of work needed by the State inj this 'crisis of its affairs, they are ready and 'frilling to do. There are twentyfive million forms to he filled in for 'Great Britain, and they were being placed in a house to house visitation,' v by women distributors when the mails' left. The age limits within which full and particular information is demand-l ed are fifteen years and sixty-live years respectively. It is also under-' stood that especial attention is to be directed by the Government officials upon the male population between the ages of eighteen and forty-one. A Sydney special correspondent states' that in regard to this those who. believe that the time has come in Britain for compulsory national service, and who all along have hoped that this national registration was to he a preliminary establishment of the machinery demanded by such a revolution, are not pleased. They now seem to see. in this special compilation of a list of persons who are between the ages ol eighteen and forty-one. one more evasion by the Government of the great issue of compulsion. The Government will, they think, use this special list lor a further extension of the hejiging mid persuading and threatening methods of voluntary en-' listment. So they see the hopes ol j compulsion, that have been so high by reason of this universal registration which they themselves have urged, in danger of extinction by the very machinery it will set up. They may. ot •ourse. be wrong in their surmise that the Government is compiling I bis s p<'|''"l hs( lor vountary rather than for •ompulsory purposes. Also, they may >e protesting- in advance against any' possibility of such a misuse of their >wn registration scheme. Time will ell. The voluntary principle has mo\■d mountains, has clone incredible bings in the way of giving .Britain in army. Hut that is not to say that he compulsory principle will not be OUlid necessary. The position in New Zealand is very much on the same ines. I