MILIATRY SERVICE ACT

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXI, Issue 27, 30 August 1916, Page 3

MILIATRY SERVICE ACT

ENROLMENT OF, THE RESERVE. Per Press Association. Wellington, August 29. As already announced the enrolment ol' the first and second divisions of the Expeditionary Force Reserve will bo proclaimed on Friday, September 1, and Saturday, September 2, respectively. A period of fourteen days thereafter, namely, until Friday, September Id, for the first division, and until Saturday, September l(i, for the second division, is allowed by the Act to all men of military ago, who have not registered under the National Registration Act, to become enrolled. Military age means not less than twenty years, and under fortysix years. This applies equally to men who have failed to register, and to those who had no opportunity t0.,d0 so, through not being resident in the Dominion when the National Register was taken. The Act also directs that every man who hereafter becomes a member of the reserve, cither by attaining the age of twenty years or »hy becoming a resident in New Zealand, or in any other manner, to make application for enrolment within fourteen days of becoming a member of the reserve.' All applications for enrolment must be\ sent through the post by registered letter to the Government statistician, who will ■thereupon make the necessary additions to the district registers affected, * ■Addressed and stamped envelopes will he obtainable at every post qllico for ibis purpose on and ai'teiti Friday, September 1. ■

A. vigorous publicity campaign, by moans of advertisements, posters, placards, and lantern slides, will bo ■conducted during the enrolment period in order to bring home to the men concerned, as well as to will employers of labor, the obligations imposed on them by hew. It has already been made abundantly clear that the roll is the only instrument by which the compqlsory provisions ol the Act can be enforced, therefore every man of I military ago must be on the roll ii that compulsion is to operate with justice and fairness to all, and particularly to those who have loyally done their duty by registering. It should never be forgotten that the absence of every man who should be in the reserve increases the chances of the enrolled men being called up for service whenever a ballot is taken. The Legislature has nhuje.,Very complete provision in the,Act, to ensure a complete roll, and these';- ’stringent measures, qijite apart from the addi- ; tional check resulting Irom the work | of local recruiting committees, justify j the prediction that no man will be able to escape his obligations to the State in the present great crisis, lb J can be stated with equal certainty that it will not pay any man to attempt to evade enrolment or to neglect to notify any change of abode for the purpose of escaping service.

I Failure or refusal to comply with the express directions of the Act entails serious consequences to the individual or individuals concerned, and this important difference between the National Registration Act and the Military Service Act should be carefully considered by anyone who has failed to register, and imagines that because he has not so far been pioceeded against he is, and will be, immune from prosecution under the Military Service Act. Whereas the National Registration Act threw the onus on the Government statistician of proving that a man did not register, the Military Service Act specifically throws'on the the individual the onus of proving that he did registe.i, or in cases where the proceedings are taken against an employer for continuing to employ a man who is not enrol)ed the onus is on the employer of proving that he or she had reasonable grounds for believing that bis or her employee was enrolled. 1 he reserve consists of- every male British subject of military age resident in New Zealand, excepting members of tin; Fxpeditionary Force and soldiers who have been discharged from such force in consequence of disablement or ill-health after service beyond ftfie seas in that force. For instance, members of the first Samoan Force or of the main Expeditionary Force v. ho have been discharged at their own request, and members of the [expeditionary Force, discharged either in the Dominion or abroad, because ol their refusal to he inoculated or vaccinated, must enrol in the reserve. Every man who is required to enrol should, therefore, think well before he fails or refuses to comply with ilm p-ociso and clear directions of the Act because in addition to the substantial penalties to which ho. therehv renders himself liable, he can, on conviction for this, offence, ho call,d upon forthwith for service in the Expeditionary Force without having

any chance of the luck of the ballot. He will simply hud himself enrolled as a member of the force without further option. The Government Statistician is preparing a certificate of enrolment under the "Military Service Act, to provide every man of military age with a ready proof that he is in the reserve. This certificate will he issjicd only on application by each reservist. Application forms, addressed to the Government Statistician, will he obtainable at every post office in the Dominion, and the certificate will ho forwarded as soon as practicable thereafter to the postmaster for personal delivery to tho reservist. This certificate should he carefully preserved, and should fit ways he in the personal keeping of the individual whose name it bears, for this important reason: The Act empowers a constable to stop and question any man who may reasonably he supposed to he of military ago as to any matter relevant his membership of the reserve, and the production of this certificate of enrolment will he a sufficient answer by every man so questioned. Reference has already been made to the responsibility of employers - ol Libor with respect to enrolment. One of the most important provisions in the Act in this connection is the section which prevents any man of military age receiving or continuing in employment in the Dominion unless he is able to prove that ho is enrolled in the reserve. Here again the production of Ids certificate will he sufficient proof of enrolment. This section makes every employer of labor of any kind whatsoever, who, after the enrolment of the reserve has been proclaimed, engages in his or her service or continues in. his or her employment a man who should he, but is not, "enrolled therein, guilty of an offence, punishable on summary conviction by a lino of not less that £2O nor more than £IOO. The widest publicity will he given to the grave responsibility of all employers, and to the onus which is cast upon them of satisfying themselves 'by the production of the certificate of enrolment that every iiian they engage or employ is properly senrolled ht # the reserve. Ai.ijurillie preparation, of between .2(10,0W0 ! and' 300,000 certificates is involved, it will be some little time Defore they can all be forwarded to reservists; but due notice will be given through the press to all employers so soon as these certificates are ready for issue, and thereafter any employer who engages or employs a reservist without satisfying himself* that such reservist is enrolled wilbifle so at the risk of the heavy penalties ,1 provided in the Act. Severe penalties (including a period of imprisonment not exceeding three months) will also he imposed on any person who employs or retains in his or her service a man who has deserted or is absent without leave from the Expeditionary Force. Here again the onus is on the employer to prove "that he or she did not know that the man so employed or retained in service was a deserter or absent without leave.

But in addition to the foregoing provisions dealing with enrolment, tlio Act has definite instructions with respect to changes of address after enrolment. Now Zealand is noted for the migratory character of its people, and needless to say, therefore, the number of men who are affected by this section of the Act constitute quite an army in themselves. It is the duty of every man who has changed Ids abode since furnishing his personal schedule under the National Registration Act, or who changes his abode alter enrolment in the reserve, to himself notify the Government Statistician of such change of address by registered letter. A registered letter form, fully addressed and stamped, will lie available on and after September 1 at every post office in the Dominion for this purpose. This notification must be sent before Saturday, September 16, in the first ease, or within fourteen days of changing his abode in the second instance. Inability to a fine not exceeding C2O for failure to do so is the direct penally imposed by the Act. hut neglect ol this duty may, and iu many cases will, entail much more serious consequences. A; has already been stated, the district registers will be finally closed fourteen days after the gazetting of the enrolment of the reserve, namely, on Saturday, September 16. Every man will remain on the district regis- (•,.[• iu which his name appears at that (hi le, no matter how often or to what ol’mr district lie may remove. If. for instance, a man is registered for the North Au'-klaml district, and subsormeutlv removes to the Bluff without

nidifying his change of address a*direeted hv tho statute, tho lot mnv fall on him in nny ballot that ’s taken to make good a shortage ocnirring in tho quota for the North Amddam! ;’i LricL. His name will thereupon he. ee,netted as one of tho men in that

particular district on whom the lot lias fallen, and a registered letter will be addressed to his last-known place of abode advising him oi the tact. It lie thou fails to present himself at the time and place not died, the excuse that he jiad changed Ids place of residence, and was not aware that the lot had fallen on him in the district in which he formerly lived will be of no avail, and he may be called upon to stand bis trial on a charge of desertion, which is an offence punishable on indictment belore a civil court by imprisonment lor a term not exceeding live years. As an alternative it may be dealt with as a military offence by court-martial. Finally the enrolment mesh is drawn still tighten - by the provision which renders any person liable on summary conviction 4o a line not exceeding £SO, who, having in his or possession any information relative to the circumstances of a man who is or may reasonably be supposed to be of military age, or which may be of use in enabling any such man to be found, refuses to disclose such information on a request from the Government Statistician or a constable or a defence officer. It is to the interest of every man of military age, and particularly of •the married men, to furnish the fullest particulars with respect to himself and Ids family, because the Act specifically directs the Government Statistician, if in doubt as to whether a man is a reservist or not, to enrol him in the reserve, and if in doubt as to whether a man belongs to the first or second division of the reserve, to enrol him in the first division thereof. 5A further statement will be propped explaining exactly m what manner the compulsory provisions of the A(iliary Service Act will be brought into operation whenever and wherever the -necessity arises, for it must always be remembered that the decision as to whether the voluntary system is to continue or is to be superseded or supplemented by compulsion .is left entirely to the men of military ago in the several recruiting districts of the Dominion. i