WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Taihape Daily Times, 17 August 1918, Page 5

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

o THE REINFORCEMENTS. NEW ZEALAND BIRTH-RATE. (Special Correspondent.) WELLINGTON, August 16. It seems almost certain now tliat the January draft of recruits, as well as the December draft, will he dropped. The Minister for Defence may have something to say on the' subject within the next few days. The Defence Department, for the moment, has more recruits than it wants... When the reinforcement quota, that is, the number of men despatched monthly as distinct from the number of men taken earlier were still producing recruits. Many of the fit men drawn in each ballot are not ready for mobilisation at the end of the normal leave period. They get extensions from the Military Service Boards or Medical Boards and they become available for training later. The extensions and transfers have a cumulative effect, and it follows that the recruiting machine will not always produce men in just the right numbers. Its tendency just now is in the direction of overproduction, and that is why two drafts are likely to be dropped altogether. DROPPING .DRAFTS. The recruiting authorities have found that it is easier and fairer to drop a draft altogether than to attempt to cut down drafts that are too large. The number of men posted to the September draft at the present time is approximately 1850. The number of men actually required is, say, 1200. But there is no machinery provided in the Military Service Act for effecting a transfer of men to a later draft. If .applications for transfer were invited, the re-

servists with the smallest claim to consideration would be the first to ask for a postponement of their militaryduties. The October draft already contains over 1400 ■ recruits, so that additions are • not 1 needed."' f The present intention''tff• the' recruiting authoritiesy is to take into camp the men already posted and then form two reinforcements in the

camps frdm' the surplus men. ' this' arrangement;" appears to mean that some of the married men will get more than the normal'period of training in New Zealand! All' these calculations are based on the.assumption that the reduced reinforcement quota ■ will be maintained, and they might have to be revised if the New Zealand Division suffered heavy casualties. The casualties during recent .months have been exceptionally light. THE C 2 MEN. One of the recommendations of the Defence Commission was that a. list |> of the reservists who have been classed C2 (unfit for active service) i should be published for general information. This' list is now beingprepared and the first portion of it will be in the hands of the printer within- the • next few weeks. It will contain the names of the First Division' m,en who were' originally' classed C2. and D {totally unfit) and who have not been transferred to the CT or Aclassifications by the C2 "Re-examina-tion Board. The publication of this list will enable the public to test some of the reports that are circulated regarding reservists alleged to have evaded their obligations. If a man has been drawn in the ballot, and has \ not been sent into camp or posted to a draft not yet mobilised, his name ought to appear in the C2 or D list. The complete list will not be available for some time, but the first instalment will be followed by the other portions as quickly as possible. The First Division will be covered before a start is made with the Second Division list, j MORE POPULATION. The energetic Minister for Public Health, the Hon. G. W, Russell, told a Wellington audience yesterday that if he held his portfolio after the war he was going to put forward some very important proposals. He indicated their direction by stating that ; the State should give direct financial j support to the people who were willing to undertake the responsibilities of parentage. He did not believe it was reasonable to expect men and women to raise large families when their own financial position was insecure. Yet it was plain economic I fact that New Zealand needed more population, that the New Zealandborn boy was the best immigrant, the country could possibly secure, and that each additional child represented a national asset worth many hundreds of pounds. He had ascertained from the Government Statistician that if the birth-rate of 1886 had been maintained until the present year, the Dominion would have had about a quarter of a million more people than lit can boast to-day. An addition of one baby per hundred of population per annum would give New Zealand over 500,000 extra citizens in fifty years.