THURSDAY, AI'KIL 22, 1015. •ADDITIONAL TROOPS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 268, 22 April 1915, Page 4

THURSDAY, AI'KIL 22, 1015. •ADDITIONAL TROOPS.

An announcement that the Government has decided to send additional troops to the front had been expected ever since news of Australia's new effort had reached the Dominion, and Mr. Massey's Btatement on Saturday that New Zealand would send 2500 men over# and above the reinforcement drafts for the original force was received with much more relief than surprise. People here, and probably elsewhere, have been feeling strongly that New Zealand was not doing enough towards the creation of an Imperial army strong enough to deal the death-blow to Prussian militarism, and the rather discouraging answers of the Minister of Defence to enquiries upon the subject were the cause of considerable dissatisfaction. But one may assume now that Mr. Allen was waiting merely until he had made sure of the 'Dominion's ability to arm and equip a large additional force, and the announccinent of the offer is an indication that the necessary arrangements have been made. Equipment is the crux of the Whole question. The Mother Country lias no surplus of rifles or khaki cloth at the present time, and the anxieties of a Dominion War Minister on this score must be great. But '.he difficulties have been overcome, and .the new troops will move into Trenthain camp as soon as they can be enrolled. After they leave New Zealand a few months hence they will be followed, like the original expeditionary force, by reinforcements at the rate of ten per cent, of their strength a month, so that New Zealand stands committed now to ohe despatch of some 18,750 trained men during the next twelve months. The humber of men already sent away does hot fall far short of those figures. Will there he any difficulty in recruiting the necessary number of men in order to keep the successive drafts up (o their required strength? The Minister of Defence and his advisors do not think that there will be any serious failure on the part of the young men of the Dominion, though special efforts may be demanded from the Defence Department and from the voluntary organisations which have concerned themselves with the recruiting problem. The Fifth and Sixth Reinforcements, some ,4000 men in all, are in camp at Trentham, and it is understood that the lists for the Seventh Reinforcements are practically complete, While names are being taken for the Eighth Ttemforcement. The men have been coming forward quite fast enough to provide the numbers required (.rbout 1000 monthly) up to the present time, and already the news that an additional force is to he despatched has stimulated recruiting { to a marked degree. But it has to he admitted that there are some shirkers among the young unmarried hicn who ought to he filling the ranks. The Wolliiirrf.nn Evening Post has drawn attention to this fact in a pointed way. The workers seem to he doing more than their fair share." it savr.. ,r [t is also to be feared that the country dia-

tricts aro doing more than their fail share, though in the absence of any official figures one cannot speak positively. It is, however, certain that the young men of the non-producing and well-to-do ckSscs are shirking their duty to a deplorable extent. How often does one find one of their names in the Wellington list of recruits that appears from clay to day?" The reproach appears to be well grounded as far as the capital city is concerned, but perhaps it is scarcely fair to blame the young men in any general way until the Defence Department has begun to impart a note of urgency to its appeal for recruits. The Department has not yet been in a position to say that every available man was required. It has been asking for a trad number monthly, and has been getting the required number actually a good deal quicker than the men could be taken into camp for training.