MILITARY SERVICE ACT.

Taihape Daily Times, Issue 160, 11 August 1916, Page 3

MILITARY SERVICE ACT.

new recruiting districts,

PREPARING FOR COMPULSION

The Military Service Act empowers the Minister for Defence to divide New Zealand into recruiting districts, and it directs the Government Statistician, so soon as these districts have been constituted, to prepare the dis tricts register of the First and Second Divisions of the Reserve, and to enter

on each district register the names rf tne men cf military age belonging to the respective divisions who are resident In that district at the date of its constitution or at any later date at winch they become members cf t-m

Reserve. This is the first stage i

making ready for compulsory service Pursuant to this author! y, the Dom;n

ion has now been divided mro recruit

ing districts, and the work of prepi

ing registers of the men :n the first

division of the Reserve for each of these districts will be at once commenced. It has been tuvimr decided that these new districts will henceforth he the group districts for all territorial training and depart mental purposes under the Defence Act. This

decision means, of course, an increase

of three in the present no mbs- of i groups, with a corresponding increase in the number of group commanders

and staffs. In constituting the new dis- i tricts it was not deemed advisable to adhere to the present group boundai - ies, as these are more or less arbitrary and in several instances are not easily ascertainable, and it is necessary that every man of military age, and theiefore liable for service, should know clearly and definitely the recruiting district to which he may be ballot Led. 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 care has been taken to preserve as far as practicable community of interest. Each

group recruiting district undex the

Act therefore, will comprise so many counties, and of course, all boroughs, town 'and road districts situated within those counties. The Post and Tele-

graph Guide shows the county in which each post office in the Dominion is

situated, and thus provides e\ei> man of military age with an easy and readv

means of ascertaining the county ana

consequently the recruiting district in which -he resides. For the purposes of the Military Service Act, 21 group re-

cruiting districts have been constituted. Advantage has been taken of the

present opportunity to re-number the groups that have hitherto had ot iei than a plain number. Fcr instance,

the old 7a district (Wairarapa) now becomes No. IS, and No. 11a (West Coast) now becomes No. 21. The other new districts have been number-

cle 17, 19. 20. This method has been followed in order to preserve the existing number of the groups that already had a plain number, and so disturb Defence records and files as little as possible. The new districts are B'ay of Plenty, heretofore attached to the No. 2 group Poverty Bay, which has been separated from the No. 7 group, which latter group in turn has been enlarged by the inclusion of the counties of Waipawa, (Waipukurau anc 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. The group recruiting districts'for the cities of Auckland, Christchurch and Dunedin have been enlarged to include the adjacent counties, which

now' in fact form ivhat are commonß regarded as the greater metror. Lit i

areas. At these centres maps of the Dominion showing the county boundai ies and groups of 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 ag/e was compiled under the Recruiting 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 bodies recruiting committees in such of the new district;-,

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 ciicumsran

ces may determine, not only tor the purpose of controlling recvmting as heretofore, but to assist and ad\ iso

with respect to matters that may arise from time to time at c;ia administration of the Military 3er/t»j Ac:. A direct appeal is being made by tie Recruiting Board to each local recruiting body to take stays it. conjunction with its neighbours in each group recruiting district to bring such central executive or executives into existence. In thus emphasizing the eed for a continuance of labours which have been arduous and the Board desires to express its grateful appreiatiou of the valuable assistance which has been so cheerfully given over the whole Dominion.

It is proposd in the immediate future to proclaim the enrolment of the Reserve, and exactly whtt is meant b> that will be fully expained in a further statemeat before the proclamation is Gazetted.