NEW ZEALAND FORCES.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 169, 23 December 1914, Page 3

NEW ZEALAND FORCES.

PROGRESS OF RECRUITING. "PLENTY OF MEN." " COLONEL ROBIN'S STATEMENT. ' Recruiting in New Zealand is proceed- . ing quite satisfactorily, according to Col. | Robin, the officer commanding the Neiv Zealand forces. In an interview lie stated it was incorrect to suppose tliat sufficient men for the Department's purposes had ! not offered their services. So far all the men required had been obtained without difficulty, and in a sense more than are ( required. More yet are needed, of course, | tad ao one need despair, as there is no dearth of men. Recruiting here is done tcrj methodically and quietly. As showing that there is no shortage of men, Colonel Robin mentioned that oil the day after one of the New Zealand for»e» vacated its camp the next force, in absolutely full strength, marched in. That force is at present • under canvas, and to-day the Defence Office could put its hands on half the number which is to follow. The scheme is to have all the men in a camp to start training at the same time. If they drifted in by 20 and 80, and so on, tlie camp would never progress past the goosestep. The names of volunteers are being received quietlj ; all the while, and at a certain time, before they are required, the men are noti. fled to report on a given date. Coloael Robin said that it was quite wrong to say that New Zealand was not doing her share on a population basis in providing soldiers. We had, he said, done more than our share. The whole business was run by the Imperial authorities. They had stipulated requirements from Now Zealand and the Do- j minion had more than fulfilled them, j lA peculiarity of the recruiting in New | Zealand is that some districts provide many more men than other districts, but this is not regarded as necessarily detrimental to the districts which have the smaller numbers. The reason for the discrepancy is that there are causes operating in those districts which act as a hindrance. In a little while the hindrance will pass away automatically, and the men from those districts will then feel free to send along their names.