The Daily News. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 26, 1915. SYSTEMATISING RECRUITING.

Taranaki Daily News, 26 October 1915, Page 4

The Daily News. TUESDAY, OCTOBER 26, 1915. SYSTEMATISING RECRUITING.

In view of the earnest and pressing appeal made by the King for "more men and yet more men," in order that a highly organised *nemy who has transgressed the laws of nations and changed the ordinance thai binds civilised liurope together, may not inherit the free Empire which our ancestors and his have built up, it is imperative that all classes throughout the Empire shall freely respond to the appeal and come forward voluntarily and take their share in the fight. To enable the full benefit of the response to be obtained the Dominion Defence authorities need to overhaul, without delay, the existing machinery, so that the many hindrances to recruits being enrolled may be removed and a more intelligent and practical system inaugurated. In the first place, there is the question of dealing with the temporarily unfits, of whom since the new year 315 find a place on the file at the Defence Office. An investigator in the South Island recently took at random a hundred of these cases and found that forty-seven were rejected for unsound teeth, twenty-six for varicocele and varicose'veins, and twelve for chest deficiency. Had there been instituted a proper system of taking these men into camp and remedying their de-1 fects, they couid have all been made fit, instead of being 'turned away and their services lost. It cost five shillings j per head to have them medically examined, but the cost of handling them, I reckoning office charges, must have been i considerably more. Surely, when men I arc so urgently needed it would pay well to have made these rejects fit for service while undergoing training at camp. The time has arrived when it is imperative that the best methods of recruiting shall be employed. No other will suffice. Every district in New Zealand should be thoroughly canvassed i" a similar way to that which Lord Derby has set on foot in England, so that the campaign is thorough. Voluntary recruiting agents should be empowered to enrol men, and the Defence authorities should do the rest. Another matter of importance is the establishment of local training camps, in the vicinity of the larger towns, which would undoubtedly | stimulate the flow of men to join the forces. At such camps or recruiting depots, the. men would receive the elementary training and then be passed on to the main camps, and it would probably be found that fn this way they would become niore efficient in a given time than under the present system. There are a number of non-commissioned officers at present wasting their time In mere ofiieo work that could be done better and cheaper by civilians and the officers more usefully employed in drilling recruits, while assistance might be given by qualified men who have returned honie invalided. The system of registering men on condition that they must await the convenience of the authorities for acceptance gives no certainty and creates much dissatisfaction and irritation. Lord Derby's scheme, as we have already pointed out, provides for those who cannot be equipped at

enlistment being paid three shillings a day till called up. If such a plan were introduced iff New Zealand its results, we are confident, would be most gratifying, and it would be a powerful incentive to recruiting. .The whole question of recruiting needs immediate attention if the needs of the army are to be mot. The King asks the people of the Empire for sacrifices to keep his armies in the field, and through them to secure victory and enduring peace. Loyalty and patriotism demand that the appeal shall receive a full and fitting response,