Caps In Our Ranks.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 282, 7 May 1915, Page 4

Caps In Our Ranks.

MUST BE >, THE NEED FOR MORE MEN. THE GRIM STRUGGLE CQNFRONTv" ING US. A NliW CONCEPTION. (By lekgraph—Own Correspondent..)„ j Wellington, Last Night.,'" Ihe casualty lists-New Zeahidfc roll of honor—tqlls its own story and* i makes its own appeal to the manhoq* of this country," said the Minister if JJctence to your correspondent. "Q-rr men have paid the price of achievement and the gaps ini their ranks hay* n,led. I am informed that already the news has given an impetus to reeruit|aa> m various parts of the. Uominionr Th* Government has,not had cause ,to finjl ■ fault with the rate of reeruitini' un to the present time. Men have conje'fi*. ward steadily, and we have been ttUe to send away eaah detachment at -its" due date and, to keep the required number of men in training. But, ngwu-Wft want several thousand men quickly to nil the ranks of the additional expeditionary force awl to provide' thc rejroHr Stream of reinforcements for tlie,ti»opg A?™: i mw *' le J);lril aiielles, anddaa Minister of Defence I feel assured of'a prompt response in asking thft man'litad ' ot the Dominion to supply tl. e required number of recruit?." The Prime Minister, when the subject was broached to him, spoke in the same -strain, 1 here: were aomo. ineny Ife-and who were unable to get aywy, oiwiftg family or business ties. But on thither hand there were very many thuus&ndg who could bear-arms for theifrcountry and their duty was clear. They should register their., names, and so . indicate ' their willingness to go into camp for training when ,the Defence Department cal ed them. Nobody could-say yet how . long the war would continue or what sacrifices would be demanded'of'tdie En. pure before victory was achieved, but -New Zealand's present task simplv to send forward the trained ajwt. equipped troops promised: to the: Imperial authorities. In order that the detachments might leave regularly the recruits must oiler themselves in good time I "lie casualty lists have been the sole topic m Wellington diirikig the last day or two, and the silent groups that scan the growing "roll of honor"' outside the newspaper ofliees indicate in word and demeanour that the capital city is forming a new conception of the magnitude and grimness of tile struggle in which the Empire is engager People aro twinning to realise, too, that many more casualty lists are likely to reach the Dominion within the next week or The authorities are not able to give dates m connection with the lists already wsued, but it is obvious enough that tho men whose names have been mentioned already suirered in the early stages of the operations along the Dardanelles. Apparently there has been heavy fighting daily since the landing was pffceted and additional losses cannot have been escaped. Your correspondent mentioned this point to an officer, who drew attention to the fact that New Zealand,, is not in direct telegraphic communication with the scene of the fighting. "The procedure is roughly this,'', he said. "At the end of a day's fighting there are certain men in the field hospitals and othermen are 'missing.' These latter men,' may be dead, they may be prisoners, or- | they may merely have got out of touch, with their sections. When the roll i» s called the position is cleared up to extent, since officers or men arc able *■% give information about absent but the fate of many individuals may remain in doubt for a while, rind tjK» commanding officer naturally will not send home premature reports regarding* casualties. In the case of the Dardanelles fighting wc may assume thfkfc a hospital has been established at some point on the coast, probably at one. of the landing places. Wounded men would be shipped from that hospital to a base hoL-pital at Alexandria or and reports would have to follow the same channel before they could reach, the telegraph office. Just consider %s inevitable delays that would oecur iw the preparation of casualty lists ttttder 'sueu conditions, and then remember that the responsible officers have tlu'fr hands very full indeed and cannot be expected to give first attention to the despatch of news home while they are hammering at the Turks." The sketch of the posi- ' tittn is illuminating, but it does not excuse delays at this end when the casualty lists have actually reached the Dominion. The. defence authorities are attending to this matter. t

THE CALL HAS COME. ; MEN WHO ifAVE NOT ENLISTED. Wellington, Last Night. Discussing the question of recruiting, to-day, the Hon. ..Mr, ,T. Allen, Minister for Defence, said: "If I liad not already registered, and I saw the list of casualties circulated throughout the city to-day, I should feel that a call had conic to me in most urgent terms. If I had not already done so, 1 should go straight away and enlist. I do not think that the country has really rcaJised how tremendous is the job we have in hand, and how we have to lose and how the lost places have to bo filled up by those who are here and fit to go and who have not gone yet. I cannot believe it possible that a man who is lit to go does not want to go. The list of casualties that we have received to stimulate recruiting Immense* l.w That is the experience everywhere else, and I have no doubt will bo tjitt same, in New Zealand. '' As for the dependents of those killed and wounded," he added, " the Government could not do more until the legislation already on the Statute Book was amended next session. Dependents of men killed would be provided for up to the present. The Government had taken the course of paying to the dependents of a man who had been killed the pay he had allocated to those he had left behind him. That pay would be continued for twenty-six weeks or until the pension to dependents was lixcd. lie thought that was a fair thing." AN APPEAL TO LOYAL MEN.'"*

Wellington, Last Night. | At a meeting of the executive of thd I Wellington .Military District the following resolution waH unanimously passed: "In the opinion of this executive committee of the Wellington .Military District the approaching crisis in the war phase demands lrom all loyal men special patriotic efforts to do their duty in obtaining a righteous victory and still more strongly securing the freedom of all subjects of the lOmpire under the time-honored Union Jack. In order to •support actively and practically the Defence Department at this juncture it is suggested that the National Reserve throughout the Dominion offer to raise, at least -2000 soldiers under the badge oi the lleserve, each of the military districts of Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Otago cont riluitind its quota, of < r >(X) from its enrolled strength or byspecial enlistment of others of-the regulation age, 20 to 40, ag nationals."