New Zealand

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXI, Issue 58, 5 October 1916, Page 3

New Zealand

recruiting and registration. THE FINAL WARNING. Per Press Association. Wellington, October 4. The chairman of the Recruiting Beard has issued the following statement :— ; ■ The work of repairing the registers of the first and second divisions of the Expeditionary Force Reserve under the Military Service Act is now proceeding apace. It is just possible that the quotas for the new group recruiting districts for the 23rd Hein forcements (the November draft), v ill be based on the men available m the first division of the reserve, but in any case the machinery for taking a ballot, should voluntary recruiting not produce the men required, will then he.in full working order. The Recruiting Board is very satisfied with the nlapner in which men of military age have responded to the proclamation and enrolled in the ieserve, but;''while this response ha's been quite up to expectations, I have reason to believe that a number of reservists have not enrolled, and I desire to sound a final note of warning. Every man of military age who applied for his certificate of enrolment should now have received a card of acknowledgment. If any man has not got this card it must be because either his application or the acknowledgment card has gone astray in transit. His proper course is to at once forward another application to the Government Statistician/ .’because ft is not intended to ilWa’it the issue of the certificates of enrolment’ before taking action in the j ca ! se of men who there is reason to 'believe ate evading their legal obligation! ,' In view of the probable early application of the ballot, it would be manifestly unjust to permit any man, by reason o 1 ’ the fact that he has not enrolled, to increase the chances of citizens wb- have loyally done - their duty, and therefore it is intended to round up all suspects and ask them to produce an acknowledgment card as proof that they for a certificate of enrolment. ■ * I wish to make it clear that it is not proposed to immediately take advantage of the general provisions ot Section 11, which' empowers a constable to question any man who may reasonably bo supposed to be of military age. Present to bd restricted to specific cases where the Government Statistician or.rtjie police have reason to believe that men have registered. On conviction, all such no- registered.. On conviction, all such men will be called..up for service with the Expeditionary Force under Section 34 of the Act.

LAND FOR RETURNED MAORIS. GIFT OF 25,301 ACRES. Wellington, October I. The Hon. Homes has received the following telegram from the Hon. Honiara from Toknaim on October 3; "J conferred with a representative gathering of Tnwharctoae at Waihi, Tokaami, yesterday, when, it was decided by T e Meuhen Tnkino, Kingi Topia, and Tnwharetoa and the Tuwhanetoa tribe to set aside the* Ohanko block of 25,301 acres for settlement by returned Maori soldiers, irrespective of the tribe to which they belong. The land is to be an absolute gilt from the Tnwharetoa people to the Maori soldiers’ settlers. It -gives me much pleasure to be able to inform you that'this great soil-sacri-fice is made by one of our Maori tribes, and I know you will appreciate both the spirit which prompted the making of the gift,’ and the national character of the same. Kia Ora!”

The Native Minister telegraphed the donors, through Dr. Pomare, the thanks of the Government for the magnificent gift- The machinery enabling such gifts of land to he made nse of for the purpose indicated was piovided in last session’s Native Washing-Up Bill. It is most gratifying to find that the Native tribes, recognising their responsibilities towards those of their race who have gpifh to the war, and it is to be hoped this will be the precursor of other gifts of a similar nature. T* is understood that some of the Fast Coast tribes have views of r rhnilar nature. Money has also been freely subscribed by the natives fo patriotic purposes. Yesterday received £oo for the patriotic* funds fiom the Chiefs of Te A raw.) tribe a! L’ofoiti. IDLE RUMORS OF TRANSPORTS. r ■; v >. h'x t‘ ■_.* REPUDIATION BY MINISTER. Wellington, October I “I depreciate, in the strongest po sible terms, these idle rumors win* h

are in circulation about our transports,” said the Hon. J. Allen to-day. “There have been persistent rumors that one of our transports has been sunk. The public must understand that if any such information came to me it would be immediately made public. There is no reason to withhold it. Sad as the nows might be, it would be made known. Such rumors as have been circulated are not only idle, they are all wicked, and they make thousands of people miserable. There is a rumor that there is something wrong with the Tahiti. She is perfectly safe. Both of the transports that conveyed the loth Reinforcements have reached their destination safely. Tdo hope people who hear these baseless rumors will write me and tell me who :t was that told them. If they do, then 1 will trace tho rumor to its source and see if I can stop anything of the kind happening in tho future.”