THE NATIONAL REGISTER.

Taranaki Daily News, 30 October 1915, Page 6

THE NATIONAL REGISTER.

WORK AT NEW PLYMOUTH. DISTRIBUTING THE SCHEDULES. The task of distributing the schedules in connection with the National Register is now in operation in New Plymouth. Two carriers from the Poat Office staff have been detailed for thei duty and yesterday was their third day at work. For two men the task of making a visit of the town and suburbs to leave at each home a schedule for every male resident between the ages of 17 years and 60 years is a formidable one, and it is anticipated a week will be required to complete the work. In addition, these schedules may be obtained at the Post Office, and a News representative was informed yesterday that there had been a good number of applications for schedules, which were coming back filled up in a steady stream. The schedules may be returned to the Post Office or posted direit to the Government Statistician, Wellington, in the envelopes supplied for the purpose. The nature of the questions that had to be answered has been made familiar already through the newspapers, but it was easy to gather yesterday that a perusal of the actual schedule had given many a man a new sense of the responsibility that the nation's need of men was imposing upon the individual. The single man without dependents had been asked directly if he had volunteered for service with the expeditionary forces, and, if lie had not done so, whether he was prepared to volunteer. The married man and the man with dependents had been asked to say whether they were ready to join the fighting forces "if'required," that is, if their turn came after the first rail had been made upon the men with fewer responsibilities. The questions will not be answered without some heart-searchings. but there can be no doubt as to what the answers will be in the vast majority of cases.

The officers responsible for the preparation of the register wish to impress upon the public generally that the Act imposes the duty of registration upon every male citizen of the Dominion between the ages of seventeen years and sixty years. No man is excused by the fact that he lias been overlooked or missed in the distribution of the blank forms. Copies with addressed envelopes can be obtained at any post office in the Dominion, and it is the duty of the man who has not received a form to apply for one promptly. Any person requiring information regarding any of the questions or any point that may arise should apply at a post office.