THE NATIONAL REGISTER.

Taranaki Daily News, 9 December 1915, Page 4

THE NATIONAL REGISTER.

Now that the preliminary summary of the National Register is available some idea eau be formed of tbeapproximate man power of the. Dominion in coasection with military service. It wjllbe remembered that the avowed object c/° the Register was to ascertain the number of men in the Dominio.'. between the ages of seventeen and sixty year3,and the ntimber of these willing U> serve either at tue front or in eini employment. Tilis figures now available relate to r.ien between 19 and 44 years of age, iw.d the total recorded is 208,513, but though these %ures may be increased, thare are 16,000 who may be set down as unavailable for :riilits.ry service for various reasons. Among the number are 9000' rejects, while 4000 are incapacitated for that service, and over 4000 had already been accepted for service. Foreigners and returned troopers account for about 3300 of the remainder. This means there are about ISB,OOO available for future reinforcements. That nearly 110,000 of these skould have signified their willing' ness to join the forces is most satisfactory, as, provided the majority can pass the medical tess there should be ample provision for filling up the Dominions monthly ijuota so long as the war lasts, for allowing a third of the number to be medically rejected there would be over 36,000 available. Even eliminating one-half of the fit and willing men so as to leave the married men out of the reckoning for the time being, the number left would, it is sincerely hoped, sufliee for war purposes. Satisfactory as are these figures, there is a dark side to the pages of the Register caused by 34,000 men of military age objecting to serve their country in any capacity, and bent on shirking their responsibility, nearly one-fourth of these being single men without dependents. The question naturally arises as to what is to be done with these selfish beings who are only too willing to let others bear the burden and dangers of the war while they take their ease with a callousness that makes the willing patriots see red. The matter is one that the Government will have to consider in earnest. It is as yet too soon to form reliable estimates of the available manhood of the country, as it will probably be found that considerable allowances will have to be made, but on the figures supplied by the preliminary summary there are good grounds for satisfaction.