WANTED, 1000 MEN.

Taranaki Daily News, 4 December 1915, Page 8

WANTED, 1000 MEN.

AT ONCE. DEFENCE DEPARTMENT'S APPEAL. POSITION SERIOUS. (From the Dominion). On Thursday the Defence Department issued an appeal for men. The substance of the request is that 1000 men are urged to register at once. The state of recruiting, it is stated, is giving the Department grave concern. Men were not coming forward in nearly sufficient numbers, and if the situation was not remedied immediately the matter would be serious. It had been represented that the reason for the present hanging back was that eligible, men did not wish to spend the Christmas and N T ew Year holidays in camp, but if this was true the Department considered Jtiax; it could only be due to failure on the part of New Zealand's manhood to understand the urgency of the call. The statement proceeds:— ''The position is that 1000 men are wanted to register at once to make up 000 men, the balance required for the infantry of the 11th Reinforcements going into camp on December 14. If those men are nob forthcoming by the required date it will mean that New Zealand for the first time .will have failed to fulfil the definite pledge she has given to the Imperial Government, and, more than that, that We will have failed in our duty to our own Force in the field by not maintaining them at the strength required. It has been suggested tlSft the numbers might easily be made up after Christmas. So they might, but that will involve serious consequences, If the draft is to receive the full'period of training arranged for, it follows that it will - depart at a later date. That, in other words, means that it will arrive at the front behind its due time, with consequences which no one can fortell. But this is by no means the most serious aspect of the question. '"A more grave matter Ls that if the 1 1 ths are a fortnight or three weeks late behind the scheduled time in leaving, the departure of subsequent drafts will he delayed in proportion, the reason being that the time-table for the transports has been so narrowed down that they cannot possibly get back in time to complete future engagements. There remain only two alternatives: (1) To send the llths away seriously short. (2) If the draft is made up later to send a very considerable number of the men away only partially trained on the due date."

The objections to the first of these alternatives had already been dealt with. The second would mean that not only would a large number of men go away not fully trained, but that the 'efficiency »f the whole draft would suffer Ss a result. Under these circumstances the Defence authorities appealed with confidence to the eligible men of New Zealand to fill up the ranks at once: They did not believe that, knowing the position, 1000 men could not be found who would be willing to forego their Christmas and New Year holidays in order to neet most urgent requirements.