Military Service Bill

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXI, Issue 6, 5 August 1916, Page 5

Military Service Bill

COMPULSION CLAUSES. NEW RECRUITING DISTRICTS. BOUNDARIES FIXED.

PREPARATION FOR COMPULSION The Hon. W. Massey (chairman of the Recruiting Board) telegraphs the following from Wellington:— The Military Service Act empowers the Minister of Defence to divide New Zealand into recruiting districts, and it directs the Government, statistician, so soon as these districts have been constituted, to prepare Districts registers of the first and second divisions of the reserve, and to enter on each District Register the names of the men pf military age belonging to the respective divisions who are residents in that district at the date of its constitution, or at any later date at which they become members of the Reserve. This is the first stage in making ready for compulsory service. Pursuant of this authority, the Dominion has now been divided into recruiting districts and the work of preparing registers of the men in the first division of the reserve for each of these districts will be at once commenced. It has been further decided that these new districts will henceforth be the Group Districts for all Territorial training • and departmental purposes under the Defence Act. This decision means, of course, an increase of three in the present number of groups with a corresponding increase in the number of group commanders and staffs.

In constituting the new districts it was not deemed desirable to adhere to the present group boundaries, as these are more or less aruTErary, and in several instances are not easily ascertainable, and it is necessary that every man who is of military age. and therefore liable for service, should know clearly and definitely the recruiting districts to which he may be ballotted. It is also essential to have a well-defined boundary to each district to enable the Government statistician to place with certainty and exactitude each reservist in the district register to which he belongs. For this reason county boundaries have been in every instance selected as the boundaries of the new group recruiting districts, in the constitution of which cave has been taken to preserve as far as practicable community of interest. Each group recruiting district under the Act, therefore, will comprise so many counties and, oi course, all boroughs, towns, and road districts situated within those counties. The Post and Telegraph Guide

shows the county in which each post office in the Dominion is situated, and thus provides every man oi military age with an easy and ready means of ascertaining the. county and, consequently, tho recruiting district m which he esides. For the purposes of the Military .Service Act twenty-ono group recruiting districts have been constituted as follows; - No. I—Auckland, comprising Kden, Waitemata. Great Barrier, Manakau, and Franklin counties, with headquarters at Auckland. No. 2—Hauraki, comprising Coromandel, Thames, Ohinemuri, Pinkio, and Matamata counties, with headquarters at Baeroa. No. 17—Bay of Plenty, comprising Opotiki, Whakatane, Tauranga, Rotorua and Fast Taupo counties, with headquarters at Rotorua. No. 3—North Auckland, comprising Manganui, Whangaroa, Hokianga, Bay of Islands, Whangarei, Hobson. Otamatea and Rodney counties, with headquarters at Whangarei. No. ! —Waikato, comurising Waikato. Raglan. Kawhia, Awakino, Waipa. Waitomo and West Taupo connties, with headquarters at Hamilton. No. 5 Wellington, comprising Butt and Makara counties with headquarters at Wellington.

No 6—Manawatu. comprising Homwhenua, Manawatu, Kairanga, Oroua. Rangitikei. Iviwitea and Pohangina counties, with headquarters at Palmerston North.

No. 7—Hawke’s Bay, comprising Hawke’s Bay, Waipawa, Waipukurau, and Patengata counties, with headquarters at Napier.

No. 18—Wairarapa, comprising Featherstdn, • Wairarapa, South Masterton, Castlecliff. Mauriceville, Eketahuna. Pahiatua, Akitio, Weber, Woodville, and Dannerirko counties, with headquarters at Mastorton.

No. 19—Poverty Bay, comprising Wairoa, Cook, Waikohu, and Waiapu counties, with headquarters at Gisborne.

No. B—Taranaki, comprising Patea, Hawera. Eltham. Stratford, Waimate West, Egmont, Taranaki, Clifton, and Whongnmomona counties, with headquparters at Hawera, No, 20—Wanganui, comprising Wanganui, Waitotara, Waimarino, Kaiteke, and Ohura counties, with headquarters at Wanganui. No. 9—Christchurch, comprising Waimairi, Heathcote, Paparua, Halswell, Mount Herbert, Akaroa, Wairewa, and Chatham Islands counties, with headquarters at Christchurch. No. 10—South Canterbury, comprisjing Ashburton, Geraldine, Levels, Waimate, and Mackenzie counties, with headquarters at Timaru. No. 11—North Canterbury, comprising Amuri, Cheviot, Waipara, Ashley, Kowani, Rangiora, Oxford. Eyre, Tawora, Malvern, Springs, Ellesmere, and Selwyu counties, with headquarters at Kaiapoi. No. 21—West Coast, comprising Westland, Grey, Inangghua, Buller, and Murchison counties, with headquarters at Greymouth. No. 12—Nelson, comprising Collingwood, Takaka, Waimea, Sounds, Marlborough, Awatere, and Kaikoura counties, with headquarters at Nelson. v No. Ll—Dunedin, comprising Peninsula, Wa kouaiti, and Taieri counties, with headquarters at Dunedin. No. 14—Southland, comprising Southland, Wallace, Stewart Island, Lake, and Fiord counties, with headquarters at Invercargill. No. 15—North Otago, comprising Waitaki, Waihemo, Manitota, and Vincent counties, with headquarters at Oamaru. No. 16—Clutha, comprising Clutha, Bruce, and Tuapckn counties, with headquarters at Milton. , Advantage has been taken of the present opportunity to re-mimber the groups that have hitherto had other than a plain number. For instance the old 7a district (Wairarapa) now becomes No. 18 and No. 11a (West Coast) now becomes No. 21. The other new districts have been numbered 17, 19, and 20. This method lias been followed in order to preserve the existing number of the groups that already had a plain number, and so disturb the defence records and files as little as possible. It will bo noticed that the new districts are Bay of Plenty (heretofore attached to No. 2 Group), Poverty Bay (which has been separated from No. 7 Group, which latter group in turn has been enlarged by the inclusion of the counties >of Waipawa, Waipukurau, and Patangata from No. 18 Group) and Wanganui, which has been formed by taking one county from No. 6 Group and the remainder from No. 8 Group. It will also he noticed that the group recruiting districts for the cities of Auckland, Christchurch, and Dunedin have been enlarged include the adjacent counties, which now in fact form what are commonly regarded as the greater metropolitan areas at these centres.

Maps of the Dominion, showing the county boundaries and the groups cf counties forming the several group recruiting districts are now being prepared, and when ready these will be distributed to each local authority for whose district a roll of men of military age was compiled under the Kecruiting Board’s scheme. By this means all recruiting committees will be able to see at a glance the precise district in which they are now placed for the purposes of the Military Service Act. It is hoped that the existing local body recruiting committees in such of the new districts where no organisation of the kind already exists will take steps to form a strong central executive, or in the case of the larger group recruiting districts one or more executives as circumstances may determine, not only for the purpose of controlling recruiting as heretofore, but to assise and advise with respect to matters that may arise from time to time in adminstration of the Military Service Act. .

A direct appeal is being made by the Recruiting Board to each local body to take steps in conjunction with its neighbours in each group l0 * cruiting district to bring snob central executive or executives into existence. In thus emphasising the need for a continuance of the labours, which have been arduous and exacting, the Board desires to express its grateful appic* elation of the valuable assistance that has-been so cheerfully given over the whole Dominion. It, is proposed in the immediate future to proclaim the enrolment of the Reserve, and exactly what is meant by that will bo fnllv explained in a further statement before tho proclamation is gazetted.