APPEAL TO THE COUNTRY.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXX, Issue 49, 1 June 1916, Page 5

APPEAL TO THE COUNTRY.

RECRUITING BOARD STATEMENT.

NOT ENOUGH ENERGY.

SHOULDERS TO THE WHEEL. PERSONAL CANVASS AND THE DISTRICT QUOTA. AN UNCOMPLETED DUTY. Pee Pkess Association. Wellington, June 1. Now that the Government proposals with regard to compulsory service havo been announced, the Recruiting Board desires to impress upon local bodies and the public of New Zealand that the necessary amount of energy is not being put into the national recruiting scheme in some districts.

The position to-day is that only a part of the task set the country three month's ago has been accomplished. In February last, in order to facilitate - e cruiting, and at the same time provide a sound basis for the readjustment of the district quota and the introduction of compulsion should that become necessary, citizens were asked to undertake the personal canvass with a vievf of seeing that a report card was sent in with respect to every man of military age in each district. This involved a big work, the sending in of over 2CJO,OGO cards divided amongst 312 local districts, but the Board regrets to have to announce that although more than sufficient time has elapsed in which to complete the undertaking, the results so far as they concern the checking and completing of the rolls, have been extremely disappointing. To date only 30,000 cards have been received at the Board’s office, and no more than 5000 are in transit, making a total of 35,000 out of 200,000. It is a remarkable fact, too, that many of the local bodies which have been most insistent in urging compulsory measures have so far made no effort to do the preliminary work that is essentia! to the equitable enforcement of the principle they advocate. NEED FOR ACCURATE ROLLS. One of the main purposes of the National Register was to provide a ground work for the compilation of complete and accurate rolls. It could not be complete itself because; (a) It was natural to expect that numbers of men would evade the Ac 1 , by not filling in the registration forms or by giving false information such v. wrong address, etc; (b) Many men have arrived in am departed from New Zealand since lb taking of the register; and (c) Many men have changed the! places of residence, with the result tba their addresses given in the Nation: Register are now incorrect. The National Register rolls for th purpose of re-allottjng the distrh quotas, or of applying compulsion, as thus more or less incomplete. Eve; effort has been made in the Militai Service Bill to ensure a complete regh ter," hut the Board feels that unless i lias the assistance of the people wit the local knowledge in each district many loopholes of escape will still re main for the man who intends, il pos sible, to* evade his responsibility. THE WANT OF SYSTEM. The only way to secure reasonabl. perfect roils is by the systematic pet somjl canvass urged by the Board thre months ago, and the Board submit that those who should carry it out ai the citizens over the military ag working in conjunction with the lues authority in each district. Ihe reason why the local authorities and local n sidents are called upon to do this won are mainly these; (1) The hands of jffie Governmon and the Defence Department are full; (2) Local bodies and local residents because of their local knowledge, an the only ones who know who shouh and who should not be on the roll. If they do th'eir duty in seeing tin. every eligible man is enrolled, no nm can escape his obligations; likewise i lies within their power keep the roll, up-to-date by promptly reporting even removal from, and arrival m, their district. It must be recognised that Act of compulsion will he fair or equitable unless every man of military ag is on the roll. ONLY FAIR WAY. The reasons are obvious: The roll i. the only instrument under which men

can be called up, and as Compulsion must apply to all men of military age alike, it is wholly unfair that some should be compelled to go because they are on the roll and others escape because they are not. The completion of the rolls is necessary not only to apply to compulsion generally, but in order to levy the quotas fairly as between district and .district. This is specially so when, as is the case at present, New Zealand only requires drafts of 2350 men every four weeks to meet commitments. District quotas can only lalevied fairly when they are based on the number of men of military age remaining in each district, thus giving each district full credit for any excess it may have sent in before, and requiring others which have never done thenshare to make up their shortages. That is fair, and the various districts are vitally interested in seeing that the principle is applied. The Defence Department, however, can only give effect to this if supplied with proper rolls. iS

THE DEPARTMENT’S DIFFICULTY

It will he readily understood that the accurate data that has already been supplied by a few localities will he greatly depreciated for this purpose unless similar work is taken in hand Inall adjoining districts until the rolls for the whole of the Dominion have been made as nearly perfect as possible. With this information to guide it, the Defence Department will he in a position to so adjust the quotas that each group will be only asked to supply for future drafts a number based on its performance in the past, and its existing supply of men of military age at present. The Defence Department is acting on a roll that shows so many men in a district, even though they may not he there. Unless each district can show exactly the number of men left in it, the authorities cannot possibly make a fair and accurate adjustment. FROM MONTH TO MONTH. This re-allotment will be made from month to month, if necessary 1 , so that full credit can at once he given to each district for the recruits it has sent forward as its eligible men volunteer, and ,so reduce its number of men of military age. The quota of that district will he adjusted from time to time in proportion to the number of men of military age remaining in other districts. The districts, therefore, which prefer to continue to raise thenquotas under the voluntary principle will thus have a strong incentive to do so further. Provided its local authorities supply l a proper roll, no group will he penalised by having to supply more than its proper quota. VITAL TO THE MARRIEDS. A further vital point is that men caniot be selected according to their resM'Ctive classes when there is no corndate roll available. This is of special oncern to married men with depone nts, who should therefore see thai lot only are they themselves on tin. .oil, hut that every other man is. 11 aen with dependents do not acquaint he recruiting committees or defence athorities with their responsibilities ow far can they expect the recruit ig committees and defence authoritiesu know thom: j Thus the more me; • here are on the rolls, the less chanc i there of any man being called o: ,efore his turn. If citizens over th ailitary age are not to lie charged wit. .aching in patriotism, then they mus lisplay more energy than they ar nanifesting at jiresent. AB URGENT AS NECESSARY. The work is as urgent as it is neces ,ary. If New Zealand is to fulfil h ailitary obligations, and injustice i .ot to be done, with three months gon mere is yet a large proportion of th .ork yet left to do. Several districts hough* late, are now getting mule, vay, hut others have done little c. milling at all. It is to these latte hstricts that the Recruiting Boar ■arnestly appeals, and in doing si rould point out that wherever the pei sonal canvass has been tried,few,if any difficulties have been experienced, am no insults have been received. Indeed i |ip general experience has been that uonliave flocked to the recruiting offi res its never before, ensuring the sue cess of the voluntary system locally fo months to come, hut in the event <. voluntaryism failing, the Nation mus be in a position to immediately apply Compulsion, and this cannot be fairly done without having complete rolls which, in turn, cannot lie secured with out carrying out a complete canvass i ■ach local district. W. F. MASSEY, v Chairman.