RECUITING FACTS.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume 7, Issue 220, 4 June 1915, Page 3

RECUITING FACTS.

FUTURE! REQUIREMENTS. j SYSTEM NOT TO BE CHANCED. STATEMENT BY DEFENCE MINISTER. WEJ XING TON, Mo nday. “ Wbai I have said about married men, enlisting has been interpreted,” said the Minister of Defence to a reporter to-day. “I have never urged married men to enlist. I was asked my opinion as to the duty of married men and 1 gave it. I did not say that it was the duty of married men to- enlist, and I do net say so now. What J did say and. what I do say now, is that uo’aui* ried men should come forward and offer their services. At the same time Hi ere are married men who think it their duty to go, and I do not think we should refuse to allow them to go if their wives give them c >ns«mt. Vfo do not ask their wives Mir their consent but if a wife corn inunicatos with us and refuses her consent we icli. the man he had better not go. ANXIOUS TIME IS 0 VCR. * 4 Recruiting is now- satisfactory, ” Mr. Allen continued. “T was anxious about it at the middle of this month because we had a very big outer oa hand and it did seem a.-: if recruiting were a little slow. J. gave-some intima tiou of that to the Press and the rate has been accelerated since then until now there is no doubt about immediate. requirements being met. After this we settle down to our regular steady de maud. After we have the Seventh Reinforcements in camp wo shall wane every tw’o months 2(300 men In the last two months we have had to llnd double that number. DEFENCE OF THE SYSTEM “I should like the Press and the poo pic to help us in regard to our registra tion system. A demand has been raised that wo should take men into camp as sooou as they enlist, tinder our registration scheme as we adopted it we made it perfectly plain that we wanted men to remain in their employment until we called them up. They first:' send in their registration card wo nek nowlcdgc that card, and in our acknowledgement wo say ‘Don’t give up your civil employment until you are called up.’ Some men do not take notice of this instruction, and some who have registered have come to town and said they arc unemployed. Wo do not want to become an agency for ununployed. We do want to encourage men uo remain in their employment until wo need them, but wc also want every man that feels that he ought to go to register his name so wc have a list on which we can draw at any time to meet our requirements. Having registered the greatest service man can render to the eomunity- and to us is to keep steadily on at their employment. It is not in the Interest of the efficient training of the force that wc should alter our present system-of receiving men into camp only at. stated periods.” ABOUT CONSCRIPTION. “Have you considered the question of conscription?” the Minister was asked, “No,” he replied. “I do not think there is any need for conscription in New Zealand at present. Of course if wc could prove that unmarried men were shirking their responsibilities I am not at all certain that it would not be justifiable for Parliament to deal with an issue of that. kind. I cannot say that they are shirking their duty, but if proof posit’s e came to us that they were, then it would be for the people as represented by Parliament to ( express an opinion on the question, J HASTY JUDGMENT. J Mr Allen wont on to say he would, j ask the public to refrain from passing f judgment on the men who have nor gone. 'Especially did ho ask this for the" j staff officers and instructors, who were ■ giving just as good service to the coun- ■ try and to the Empire by remaining ; here as they could possiby give by going. He hoped that the Government ! would be able to recognise later their ! claims to promotion equally with the claims of those who hul gone :c< the | front. With regard to individual young men among the civilians. he would likewise ask the public to icfrain from passing unkind judgment. The Government had been considering the advisability of giving men rejected a badge, but had come to the conclusion that the idea was impracticable. What was intended was that every man rejected for valid reasons would be given a certificate, which he could keep for his own satisfaction or to show it to his friends if occasion arose. COLOSSAL TASKS. The Minister also professed his profound admiration for the manner in which the instruction of the men at the camp had been carried out by Colonel Potter and his staff of instructors there He also wished to express his appreciation of the manner in which the Dc.fence office had coped with the colossal . amount of work to.ljc done :b'y the .stiff there, tasks of. the magnitude -of which the public had no idea. : 1 ‘Thqy arc dealing; with , millions. of money, P fi(• said, 11 arid" wc. 'have nothing like a scandal yet, and I hope we may never have one. Our last estimate of expen diture was £300,000 & mouth, but that will have to be increased. Since that

estimate was made we have these two extra battalions a hospital ship and two stationary hospitals. f IBMdMVWCM'ft