CALL TO ARMS.

Taranaki Daily News, 2 December 1915, Page 5

CALL TO ARMS.

TARANAKI QUOTA FOE THE 11 (It SHORTAGE OF 78 MEN, DOMINION WANTS NEARLY SEVEN HUNDRED. The Eleventh Reinforcements will go into camp on the 14th inst, and Taranaki is asked to find 13."> men—llo for the infantry and 25 for the mounted. The number of men fit and available in Taranaki at present is only 90, made up as follows: 12 mounted, 14 artillery, G engineers, 1 signal service, 43 infantry, 9 army service corps, 5 ambulance, 1 hospital ship, 1 veterinary 1 tunneller, and 1 Maori. From this it would appear that Taranaki had to provide 38 more men than are now available, but really the districts deficiency is greater than this, because only mounted men and infantry men will be accepted, so that there are only 12 mounted men for 25 wanted, and 45 infantry for 110 wanted. In other words, Taranaki has to And 13 irlmnted men and 05 men for the infantry. The chief shortages in infantry are in Wellington City and Taranaki. The outlook in Taranaki appears to have suddenly changed completely. Until lately that group was always well ahead of requirements. Now, in addition to a shortage in infantry, there is a shortage in mounteds here. The infantry and mounted quotas for the Wellington district were allotted on a population basis, but it is understood that a readjustment may be made. For one thing, while all the other groups are short in infantry, Manawatu has a surplus of 38 available for J)ecember. At the end of last week (according to the latest returns) there were registered on the Expeditionary Force books throughout New Zealand 3754 men. Nearly half these men were on the books of the Wellington military district. The district registrations were:— Auckland Military District 1002 Wellington Military District .... 1704 Canterbury Military District fllfi Otago Military District 372 Total 3754 The infantry needed for the Eleventh Reinforcements (bv December 14) total 1000, and there are about 070 in hand. Wellington military district Ims GSS fit infantrymen registered, but only 427 are available for December. Auckland has 380 fit men on its books, who wish to fight with the infantry, and about 340 are available for December. Otago sets its fit and available infantry down at 120. and Canterbury has only 123 fit men for this arm of the service. Allowing the same rate of reductions as is the case in Wellington for men not available in December, Canterbury's present store may be regarded as 78, and the table of infantry available for December will then read:— Auckland Military District 345 Wellington Military District. .... 427 Canterbury Military District .... 78 Otago Military District 120 Total 07 0 These figures prove that not only is New Zealand as a whole short of infantry, but also that every individual military district is short. This fact can best be illustrated by comparison, tlms:— Infantry Infantry Shortquota. available age. Auckland M.D. .. 415 345 70 Wellington M.D. 537 427 110 Canterbury M.D. 413 78 335 Otago M.D -295 120 175 Dominion total lGtiO 070 COO